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Osborne Computer Corporation Dead

Osborne Computer Corporation
KindCompany
Founded1981
Defunct1985
StatusDead
FoundersAdam Osborne
FieldPortables
Sourcebitsavers.org ↗

Invented the portable computer and the Osborne Effect in the same breath — announcing the successor killed sales of the only product, and the company followed it into bankruptcy.

Created Osborne 1

Adam Osborne's 24-pound Osborne 1 (April 1981) was the first successful portable — CP/M, bundled WordStar/dBASE/SuperCalc, $1,795 — and sold 10,000 units a month at its peak.

Announcing the Osborne Executive before it shipped tanked current sales (the 'Osborne Effect'), dealers cancelled, and the company filed Chapter 11 in September 1983. Osborne himself wrote a bitter memoir and died in 2003.

Sources

  1. bitsavers.org/pdf/osborne/
  2. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_Computer_Corporation