IBM Launches the Personal Computer

Date

1981

Category

Science, technology & invention

Region

North America (United States)

Era

Contemporary

Significance

IBM launched its Personal Computer in 1981, an event that made the desktop computer a mainstream business tool and set the standard the industry would follow for decades.

Unveiled on 12 August 1981 at New York's Waldorf-Astoria, the IBM PC (model 5150) ran an Intel 8088 processor and started at around $1,565. Crucially, IBM built it from off-the-shelf parts and published its technical specifications, an open architecture that let third parties make compatible hardware and software. IBM also licensed its operating system from a small firm called Microsoft rather than owning it outright. These decisions unleashed a vast ecosystem of add-ons, applications and, soon, cheaper clone machines from rivals such as Compaq. The company sold tens of thousands of units within months and took 100,000 orders by Christmas. The "IBM-compatible" PC became the dominant computing platform worldwide, entrenching Microsoft and Intel at the centre of the industry and putting computing power on ordinary desks in offices and homes, a shift that reshaped work and daily life.

Empires active in 1981

• Soviet Union
  1922 CE – 1991 CE
• British Empire
  1583 CE – 1997 CE
• Portuguese Empire
  1415 CE – 1999 CE
• Yugoslavia
  1918 CE – 1992 CE

Related science, technology & invention events

• The Apple II Launches the Personal Computer Era
  1977
• Intel Releases the 4004, the First Commercial Microprocessor
  1971
• Invention of the integrated circuit
  1958–1959
• Invention of the transistor at Bell Labs
  December 1947
• Ray Tomlinson Sends Networked Email and Chooses the @ Symbol
  1971
• First ARPANET message, precursor of the Internet
  29 October 1969

Also relevant

• Scientists Discover the Antarctic Ozone Hole
  1985

Further reading

A Little History of Science

The wider story

A Little History of Science

William Bynum

Warm, jargon-free tour of discovery from Babylonian stargazers to the genome.

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