Re: The apple 2, the PC, and the clones

[mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon)]

Supertimer replied:

>"Bryan Villados" <news002@macgeek.org> wrote:
>
>>So with all that... Why weren't there that many Apple II clones? There are
>>other valid explanations out there; however the explanation I feel closer to
>>home with was the fact that there was a need for cheaper IBM compatible PCs
>>for business, and not cheaper Apple II computers. Cloning was necessary at
>>the time to drop cost of the overall PC. The Apple II was never a serious
>>business-class machine, and the Apple /// failed miserably with its hardware
>>reliability, so IBM ate them up big-time! Therefore, my explanation is
>>simply that cloning the IBM PC took a huge precedence over cloning the Apple
>>II in the marketplace.
>
>I think you are forgetting that the Apple II was a business class machine
>before the IBM PC was ever designed.  In fact, the Apple II was used at
>IBM before and during the design of the IBM PC.  The first spreadsheet
>was designed and marketted for the Apple II.

Ah, but the business community as a whole never considered Apples
(of any kind) to be a respectable business machine.  The acknowledged
counterculture origins of Apple did not inspire the kind of confidence that
IBM did.  When IBM entered the market, the business PC was born.
(Remember, in marketing, perception _is_ reality!)

The clearest evidence of this is the phenomenal growth in PC sales
to businesses in the year following IBM's introduction.  Apple never
touched this kind of volume to businesses.  In fact, until IBM entered
the market, business looked upon PC's as hobby machines or toys.
Adventurous individuals in business bought VisiCalc, not businesses.

-michael

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