The computer giant IBM almost missed out on the trend towards personal computers in the 1970s. Back then, the company was the leading supplier of mainframe computers, but they were usually the size of a fridge and not suitable for private use. The company managers on the east coast of the USA didn't really want to change these conditions. But the long-haired technology nerds in California, who demonstrated their home-made microcomputers in the 'Homebrew Computer Club', upset IBM's plans and forced the development of the first IBM PC 40 years ago.

One of these homebrew nerds who embarrassed IBM was the ingenious inventor Steve Wozniak. 'Woz' was repeatedly admonished by his friend Steve Jobs to think not only of his tinkerer friends, but far beyond that. The Apple I developed by Wozniak was not even noticed by the suits at IBM in 1976. The successor project Apple II, however, was.

"Suddenly, tens of thousands of people were buying computers (like the Apple II) and they loved them," recalls former IBM manager Jack Sams in the TV documentary 'Triumph of the Nerds'. "They were very happy with them." IBM had to react - and as quickly as possible. But the then CEO Frank Carey feared that it would take IBM four years and three hundred people to get a project off the ground.

The know-how was bought in

At the beginning of 1980, Carey commissioned developer Bill Lowe to get to work with a conspiratorial dozen developers at the IBM research laboratory in Boca Raton (Florida). They were to bypass the notorious IBM bureaucracy and develop a new type of personal computer. Lowe opted for an open architecture without existing IBM technology.

However, the IBM technicians had to buy in components from outside. In their search for a suitable chip, they came across Intel's 8008 microprocessor, laying the foundations for Intel's rise to become the world's largest chip manufacturer. The IBM engineers also did not want to write the operating system for the new PC themselves.

After the leading software developer Gary Kildall from Digital Research did not take IBM's offer seriously, Bill Gates, who was only 25 years old at the time, seized the opportunity of a lifetime. Microsoft did not even have a suitable product in 1980. But Gates and his partner Paul Allen immediately recognized the prospects that an IBM contract would open up for them. Gates bought the core for a system software from a developer in the neighborhood for a paltry 25,000 dollars and licensed the conglomerate to IBM as PC-DOS 1.0. The experienced IBM managers even let Gates buy the rights to DOS and thus ensured that Microsoft was able to develop into a global software giant.

Mockery from competitors

On August 12, 1981, IBM presented the IBM PC 5150 in New York, which had been developed in the greatest secrecy. Technology purists were disappointed. The chip was not powerful enough for a reasonable graphics display. Microsoft's DOS was criticized as a weak software architecture. Apple greeted its big rival with a slightly arrogant newspaper ad with the words: "Welcome, IBM. Seriously."

But the 1-2-3 calculation program for the IBM PC was able to run more complex calculation models than the Apple II and drove the competition out of offices. In the USA, the cheapest version of the IBM PC 5150, which users had to pair with their own display device, cost 1565 dollars. Fully equipped, it cost 6000 dollars, which is equivalent to just under 18,000 dollars today.

A new era

"The presentation of the IBM Personal Computer on August 12, 1981 really heralded a new era in computer science," says Andreas Stolte from the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum (HNF) in Paderborn. "The colorful small computer scene of the seventies and eighties was transformed into our laptop and smartphone world with just a few device types, chip brands and operating systems."

The basis for the resounding market success of the IBM architecture was the decision to allow other companies such as Compaq, Dell and Nixdorf to copy the IBM PC. In retrospect, IBM managers may have regretted that they had paved the way for the competition. Ten years after Compaq sold the first 'PC clone', IBM lost its leading position in the market to the Texan company in 1994. In 2005, IBM sold its PC division, including market rights, to the Chinese company Lenovo, which is now the global market leader.

The PC boom therefore largely took place without IBM. For the industry as a whole, things only went uphill for years. Better user interfaces such as Windows 95 also contributed to this. In 1996, around 70 million PCs were sold worldwide. Sales figures then rose continuously to over 350 million PCs in 2011. After that, however, the trend was steadily downwards. The low point was reached in 2018 with sales of just under 260 million PCs. Last year, the coronavirus crisis ensured that more laptops in particular were needed and sales figures rose to over 300 million PCs.

Challenging market segment

Despite recent market successes, the PC industry is currently facing major upheavals. On the one hand, it is questionable whether Intel can maintain its leading role in the PC world with its chip architecture (x86). The challenger is the eternal competitor Apple, which is currently winning over technology experts with its concept of transferring energy-saving chip technology from the smartphone sector to the PC. The Apple people cannot currently produce as fast as the Macs with the new M1 chip are being snatched out of their hands.

On the other hand, Google is challenging the traditional PC with its Chromebooks. With these inexpensive laptops, the complex personal computer is reduced to the function of a web browser, because everything is stored and processed in the internet cloud anyway. Chromebooks are particularly popular in the USA, especially at schools and universities. Almost exactly 40 years after the introduction of the first IBM PC, Microsoft is also jumping on the cloud computer bandwagon. Windows 365 brings the PC and the required software online, so that you only need a simple computer or tablet computer to operate it.