The internet search in the phrase “I think there is a world market for perhaps five computers” can produce many websites that claim that IBM Chairman Thomas Watson.
The quotation is always listed as one of the largest epic statements of failure at all times. We look for the net trying to find the source of the quote, and the verification that the statement made by IBM Chairman Thomas Watson.
Many websites often have a 1943 date attached to the quote, as in the case of A slide we found on Microsoft’s websiteAnd as it is Presented on a page for PBS television movie nova. For all dozen websites that list the quote dedicated to IBM Chairman Thomas Watson, no one of the websites has any source information or quotation conditions.
Searching IBM websites and online IBM documents showed a IBM history document saying that the quotation to an unwanted statement made by a stockholders meeting in 1953.
From a question of IBM history on their website, “Did Thomas Watson say in the 1950s he saw market potential for only five electronic computers?” IBM offers the following explanation:
We believe that the statement you have been charged with Thomas Watson is a misunderstanding of the comments made by IBM’s Annual Stockholders Meeting on April 28, 1953. Only in the IBM 701 electronic data processing machine – introduced in the past year as the company’s first computer is designed for science calculations – Thomas Watson, Jr., tells stockholders “IBM has made a paper plan for such a machine and removed it paper will plan the whole country with about 20 concerns we think of using that machine. I would like to tell you that the machine leases between $ 12,000 and $ 18,000 in one month, so it’s not the type of thing that may be sold in each area. But, as a result of our trip, where we expect to receive orders for five machines, we returned home with orders 18. “
Can the phrase, “we expect to get orders for five machines” from 1953 stock holders meeting Morph to the renowned phrase, “I think there is now a world market for perhaps five computers. “
So much on the internet based on myths and legends. Some people ask how much internet is a place to document history, and how many internet is a place to write and re-creates history. If “famous quotes” such as “I think there is a world market for perhaps five computers” repeatedly, this is acceptable, even if no one can quote the original source. Then, if you find the quotation dedicated to IBM Chairman Thomas Watson on the Microsoft and PBS website, it must be true!
Thomas Watson is one of the richest people in his time, a leading self-made merchants and often called one of the world’s greatest salesman. If there is an hour and place where Watson made the statement, “I think there is a world market for perhaps five computers,” it is reasonable to think that there are some records. If there is no credible source when made the said quote we can only conclude that it is an urban legend, not a true statement.
Those who still believe in IBM Chairman Thomas Watson have made the statement in 1943 to focus on some large conspiracy or cover.
2025-01-22 15:12:00
