IBM & the Computers
Innovation lies not only in creating a product, but also in finding a use for it. This latter part, i.e., finding an application of a creative product, requires equal insight and innovation, as the following story shows.
World's first computer was produced by Univac in 1940s for scientific research. It was hailed as a scientific marvel, because of its stupendous capacity to perform 5000 calculations per second. The company aimed to sell its product to the universities and research institutions. Surprisingly, it was not the scientific community, but the business organisations, which responded to this machine.
Ironically, even when the business demand for the computer started increasing, Univac ignored the message. It did not want to "demean" its product by selling it to non-scientific users. IBM, on the other hand, with its technically inferior model saw the potential. It made changes in its computer design, trained its programmers for business, and attained the market leadership.
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