In the early 1980s, IBM decided to enter the PC market. They estimated that they would be lucky to sell 100,000 units over the life of the product. The company was looking for a quick way to build a PC.

Rather than design all original IBM components, IBM decided to purchase most of the PC components from outside companies and assemble the parts themselves. The microprocessor was purchased from Intel, and the operating system from Microsoft.

Imagine IBM's surprise when sales skyrocketed and their PC set the standard for the industry! In 1981 over 300,000 PCs were sold. In 1982 over 3 million were sold, with IBM having the lion's share of the market. In 1984 IBM introduced their PC AT. Later, they were to follow with 386, 486 and Pentium models.