19 Apr
2018
19 Apr
'18
8:55 p.m.
On 04/19/2018 07:56 PM, Guy Sotomayor Jr wrote:
As to why IBM entered the PC market, the rumor was (at
least at the time
within IBM) was that T.J. Watson, Jr. was at an employee?s house and saw
an Apple II. He said that he wanted to have IBM branded computers in IBM
employees homes. That was how the IBM PC project was kicked off.
But it wasn't clear at all what IBM intended the PC for. Cassette tape,
TV interface and anything but state-of-the-art design
The best part of the 5150 IMOHO, was the keyboard.
By the time one got through equipping the 5150 with floppy drives, as
display and memory, it ran into a pretty good pile of money. It was
also clear that IBM didn't have any idea of how to sell it. I remember
going to the regional IBM sales office (was that on Arques? It's been
too lnng), purchase order in hand, wanting to pick up 10 of the 5150s.
Nobody really know what we were asking for--finally, someone showed up
and told us that the lead time would be 12 weeks ARO. We went down to
Computerland and bought out their stock that evening.
I recall the scuttlebutt that went on before the official 5150 product
announcement. IBM had just announced its 68K-based lab computer. There
were those who were hoping for a 68K PC, but I figured that there was no
way that IBM would jeopardize their CS9000 sales.
But there were certainly other 8086-based PCs out before the 5150--some
quite a bit more evolved.
I recall that Bill Morrow sold his Z80-based business package (MD2,
printer and monitor) bundled with software for about 1/2 or less than
the price of a minimally disk-capable 5150 with monitor.
My general impression is that IBM made the 5150 product, without the
faintest idea of how they were going to sell it.
--Chuck