Category Big Business1

           Intel’s story is not similar to other technology giants. Neither did it begin in a garage by technology geeks, nor did it face a problem of funds. Intel’s founders, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore were reputed middle-aged techies with enough experience in the field. When Intel started in 1968, the company received a funding of $2.5 million from Arthur Rock, an American financier.

           Intel started business with memory chips. The company is credited with the world’s first metal oxide semiconductor, the 1101. Though it was not a hit, its successor dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chip did well in the market.

          DRAM was the first chip that could store a significant amount of information. Moreover, DRAM was cheaper. Soon, it became the standard memory device in computers worldwide.

          The company went public in 1971. Intel reached new heights with the launch of erasable programmable read-only memory chip-the EPROM.

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          The name IBM is a hundred years old. In 1911 The Tabulating Machine Company, the International Time Recording Company, and the Computing Scale Company of America, three successful 19th-century companies merged, giving shape to Computing Tabulating Recording Company. It was renamed as International Business Machines Corporation or IBM in 1924, after Thomas J Watson joined as the CEO.

          Watson just did not change the name of the company; his efforts made IBM one of the world’s leading computer manufacturers. Right from the beginning, IBM was regarded more for its research than its products. The company has a diverse product line, including anything from mainframe computers to personal computers.

          After their success with calculators, IBM started producing their own computers in the 1950s. The company also partnered with Microsoft and Intel for some of their major products. Automated teller machine (ATM), floppy disk, hard disk drive (HDD), and magnetic stripe card are some of the prominent inventions from the house of IBM.

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          When IBM was getting ready to release their first personal computer, the IBM PC, Microsoft was famous for Altair BASIC, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) approached Microsoft to produce an operating system for their new product. This happened in 1980.

          For IBM’s requirement, Microsoft purchased an existing operating system from another company. They modified and renamed it as MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System). The new operating system was released in 1981 and met with enormous success. Thereafter, most manufacturers of personal computers licensed MS-DOS as their operating system. Microsoft generated large revenue and never stopped growing thereafter.

          The jewel in their crown, The Microsoft Windows operating system was released in 1983. This new product made Gates a billionaire at the age of 31. With the introduction of Surface tablets that ran Windows RT and Windows 8 Pro in 2012, they started the manufacture of computing hardware.

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          Bill Gates and Paul Allen were best of friends from childhood. Both shared a passion for computers. In those days, computers were not easily accessible for kids as they are today. They used to skip classes to spend time in the school computer room to understand its programming.

          After school, Gates went to Harvard to study law, while Allen started to work as a programmer in Boston. Not long after, Gates returned to work on computers. Around the same time, Altair 8800, a new micro-computer hit the market, Gates and Allen worked to improve its programming language; they worked on BASIC and came up with Altair BASIC.

          This incident inspired the friends to start a company of their own. The result was Microsoft, one of the world’s largest developers of personal-computer software systems and applications.

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          Most of us who use laptops and PCs would be familiar with the brand Dell. But how many of you know that the computer giant Dell was started by a then University student from Austin?

          In 1984, Michael Dell started his business in a dormitory in the University of Texas. He began with providing customized upgrades for PCs. When his business turned profitable, he dropped out of college to build PCs of his own. A year later, he released Turbo PC, his first design. His initial sales were through advertisements and mails. Dell also provided good customer support, sending technicians to service PCs and implementing a policy of risk-free returns. Dell went public in 1988 and the years that followed were a success saga by itself.

          Dell’s first colour notebook computer went on sale in 1991 and in 1994; Dell was the first company to offer long-lasting lithium-ion batteries. In the beginning of the 21st century, Dell’s product line expanded to include televisions, printers, DJ digital audio players, digital cameras, and a variety of computer-related products and the company was renamed as Dell Inc. in 2003.

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          Jobs was forced out of the company over disagreements with John Scully, Apple’s CEO. This happened in 1985, right after the success of Macintosh. But this did not shatter him. He went on to found another computer and software company, NeXT Inc. that later bought Apple. A sweet revenge indeed!

          Apple showed a steady growth after Steve Jobs bought the company. The 1990s were a period of rapid growth. The company introduced newer versions of Macintosh and also launched the PowerBook, the earliest version of Apple’s laptop. Most of the iconic products of Apple were released after that including the iMac, and iPhone. The first iPhone was released in 2007. It came with many innovative features and was an instant success in the market. The subsequent years witnessed the release of newer, better models.

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