Image Credit: IBM

Celebrating the IBM PC’s 30th Birthday

I joined Creative Strategies the year that the IBM PC was introduced. In those days Business International owned Creative Strategies and IBM was one of their major clients. Business International is a WW global econometric consulting firm and IBM used them often to help them open new IBM offices around the world. And Creative Strategies was their technology-consulting arm so we were often drawn into these types of projects to help on technology related issues.

Image Credit: IBM

A side note to this is that the first time I had to visit the Business International Offices in NYC, not far from the UN, I met a black intern who was working there during the summer while he was in law school. I did not know it at the time, but the intern was Barack Obama who, as you know, has gone on to become the most powerful man in the world.

But I joined Creative Strategies at a most interesting and fortuitous time in my career as well as history. In those days, the world of computing was dominated by mainframes and mini-computers and at the time, that was the focus of Creative Strategies research and consulting. But with the introduction of the Apple II and release of the IBM PC in 1981, the company had decided to add PC’s to their research focus. And although I was working in the company’s marketing group at the time, with my background in semiconductors, I was asked to lead their first PC analysis group and in a sense and by default, became Creative Strategies first PC analyst.

And in a wonderful quirk of fate, my first outside project was with IBM’s PC group. Not long after the PC was launched IBM asked us to help them with their retail and consumer strategy. As a result, I got to work with Don Estridge’s team as they charted their future strategy for the IBM PC and got to see the evolution of the IBM PC from the inside.

Now, 30 years later, all of the people who were part of those early days of the PC and have watched the impact of the PC on business, education and consumers are marveling at the impact this product has had. It has changed the way we work, learn and play and has democratized information. And while we are entering the Post PC era, it is important to remember that the PC is not going away. It will continue to be an important tool in business and education and be at the heart of productivity based computing. In fact, we will continue to sell around 400 million PC’s a year for at least the next 5-7 years and while it may not be as sexy as tablets and smartphones, it will continue to be the workhorse for serious productivity.

For me, the PC has been at the center of my personal and business life for three decades now and I can’t imagine what life would be like without it. It has helped shape and define my career as well serve as an important tool for my own personal productivity, education and entertainment. And it has provided the livelihood and fortunes for millions of people who are involved with the PC industry and continues to be an important source for innovation in the Internet age.

There have been some wonderful retrospectives on the PC written by many colleagues and I list some of the one’s worth sharing below..

From Mashable- IBM PC History

From PC Magazine- a timeline- PC History Timeline

Tech icons reflect on the 30th anniversary of the PC

Ten Ways to Celebrate the IBM PC

IBM Marks PC’s Anniversary

Published by

Tim Bajarin

Tim Bajarin is the President of Creative Strategies, Inc. He is recognized as one of the leading industry consultants, analysts and futurists covering the field of personal computers and consumer technology. Mr. Bajarin has been with Creative Strategies since 1981 and has served as a consultant to most of the leading hardware and software vendors in the industry including IBM, Apple, Xerox, Compaq, Dell, AT&T, Microsoft, Polaroid, Lotus, Epson, Toshiba and numerous others.

9 thoughts on “Celebrating the IBM PC’s 30th Birthday”

  1. I would love to see a comparison of lost hours trouble shooting IBM pc’s and iMacs over the same time period and then add up the value of the lost hours and see which machine REALLY cost more!

  2. Heya just wanted to give you a brief heads up and let you know a few
    of the images aren’t loading properly. I’m not sure
    why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different browsers and both show the same results.

  3. Somebody necessarily help to make critically articles I might state.
    This is the first time I frequented your website page and thus far?

    I amazed with the research you made to create this particular submit extraordinary.
    Excellent task!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *