Computer Myths and Folklore: HP laughing at the idea of a personal computer

The Apple I computer

• The myth:
  
  
  • Clip from Pirates of Silicon Valley
  • Michael Mattis' article on Salon.com
    
    
    • "In current tech society, it's one of those scenes that have ascended to the level of high mythology: A demigod descends to earth to offer up his discovery to humanity; but stone-blind mankind, stumbling through the darkness, wouldn't know fire even if Prometheus stomped into its office and plunked it down on the desk. In the yupscale watering holes of Silicon Alley and Multimedia Gulch, people now roll their eyes when talking about how poor, dumb HP passed up the chance to lead the PC revolution. I mean ... duh!"
      
      
• The facts:
  
  
  • Fire in the Valley by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine
    
    
    • Wozniak liked his part-time job at HP, and showed them the Apple I while he was making it in the hope they would build it.
    • HP told him that it would make more sense for a start-up company to make such a product.
    • HP gave Wozniak a release allowing him to produce it on his own, but Wozniak made two more attempts to join computer development projects at HP.
    • HP was already working on a personal computer of its own, Project Capricorn, headed by Chung Tung. It started as an advanced calculator, and slowly evolved into a computer. In January 1980, the HP-85, as it eventually was called, was poorly marketed and was too highly priced to take any control of the PC market.
      
      
  • Michael Mattis in Salon.com
    
    
    • In March 1976, Wozniak brought his invention around to his supervisor in HP's Advanced Products Division. The supervisor was impressed enough to contact the company's other divisions to gauge their interest. You can imagine the calculations that went on in the minds of HP's decision makers when they looked at the prospects for an $800 computer directed at consumers.
    • Wozniak's computer was dismissed based on the realities of building, marketing and supporting a new and entirely untested product
    • Wozniak himself later admitted, 'It's not like we were all smart enough to see a revolution coming ... There are a million people who study markets and analyze economic trends, people who are more brilliant than I am ... None of them foresaw what was going to happen either.'
      
      
  • Infinite Loop by Michael Malone
    
    
    • "HP was wary of anything purely targeted at consumers, a market that had sunk many an ambitious tech company and in which HP had no particular experience or skill."