In case you didn’t know, this week marks the 30th anniversary of portable computing. Yes, mobile computers are actually younger than many of us – and they all came from a strange machine, described by Time magazine as “a cross between a World War II field radio and a shrunken instrument panel of a DC-3”.
Even though the first prototypes arrived earlier, for example the portable Xerox NoteTaker, it is universally agreed that Osborne 1, released in April 1981, was the first of its kind to be mass produced, and to gather any sort of media attention. This bulky plastic briefcase started so many important trends it’s hard to overlook the influence it had on modern portables, be it laptops, netbooks or tablets.
So what’s the story behind the first popular mobile computer of the world? It was a brainchild of Adam Osborne, one of the most prolific and influential computer journalists of the time. Today, he’s mostly known for Osborne Effect (more on this later). Back in the days, he was amongst the top gurus of the tech industry, as big as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. His column in InfoWorld magazine gathered him such a following that he decided to jump into hardware business and started to make machines of his own. After all, he knew exactly how the perfect computer should look like.
His company went from two employees to 3000 in less than a year. They racked up over $72 million in sales. Another Silicon Valley success story? Not exactly – the company ended just like it started, very suddenly and almost overnight.
But more on this later, first I wanted to compare this bleeding edge 1981 gadget with latest and greatest mobile computing toy, the sleek iPad 2. Let’s see just how far we went in the last 30 years.
Mobile computing round-up: Osborne 1 vs. iPad 2
At first, they seem to belong in completely different weight categories. Osborne 1 is just under 11 kg, enough to pull your arm out of the socket, if you’re a skinny geek. That’s roughly 20 times more than an iPad, or about the same as whole suitcase of them.
But what about the processing power? Osbourne 1 was sporting a Z80 CPU, running at a stunning frequency of 4.0 MHz. You cannot compare the different architectures directly, but iPad’s CPU is a dual core A5, clocked at up to 1 GHz. That’s approximately three hundred times more, not counting in the vastly superior architecture.
Z80 CPU was supported by whopping 64KB of system memory. Surprisingly, it was enough to run databases, word processors and complex, professional software. Today’s iPad is equipped with 512MB of RAM (roughly eight thousand times more), and some reviewers complain it’s a bit on the low side.
Now let’s compare storage. iPad offers you 16GB of flash memory in basic configuration. Osborne 1 doesn’t have anything to write home about, even though it was a well specced machine in its days. It has a dual 5.25 inch floppy disk drive, each disk holding 110KB of data. An upgrade was possible to more modern, “dual density” drive with 360KB floppies. Even with the maximum theoretical storage of 720KB, Osborne had 20,000 times less disk space than iPad. Well, it was never meant to hold music videos and MP3’s. Each disk was enough for 1600 pages of text, and it was thought to be an impressive feat.
It’s not only about power and storage, though. It’s about what a device can actually DO with the resources, as without good software all those MHz’s ad KB’s are for nothing. Osborne was particularly well equipped for its time, it came with a self-configuring CP/M 2.2 OS (which would launch a program automatically after inserting a disk – a novelty for the time). It had a WordStar word processor, SuperCalc spreadsheet, BASIC programming language, and a dBASE II database. You could work on it from day one – and it was a huge leap in terms of user friendliness. In early 80’s most machines were sold without any software. Sometimes there was no software at all, and the user was supposed to write all the necessary programs himself (take Altair for example). Be as it may, Osborne’s three apps pale in comparison to iPad’s array of pre-installed stuff, and hundreds of thousands of programs in App Store.
Battery life? There was no battery in Osborne, the user was supposed to hunt for power sockets whenever he wanted to use his machine. Not really surprising, as you needed a sturdy desk to set it up anyway.
Screen? Five inches of monochrome real estate, 52 characters in 24 lines (yes, back then resolution meant basically a number of letters that can fit on the monitor). Ipad is only four times larger with its 9.7 inch touchscreen, but a 24bit color allows it to display exactly 16,777,216 colors – instead of two that Osborne is capable of.
And the price? Osborne 1 cost $1795, and it was actually considered cheap, even though taking inflation and other factors into account, today’s price would be around $4000. Priced at just $499 for the entry level model, iPad easily steals the show.
As you can see from my chart, 30 years turned out to be a whole age in computing. If there’s any field where Osborne performed better than today’s devices, it was the self-defense. Eleven kilograms of transistors and plastic were a force to be reckoned with, and iron handle made it easy to swing around.
The marketing was better too. iPad’s boring pitches are nowhere near the thing on the left.
Mujahedeen. With Kalashnikovs. And an Osborne 1. Aaah, the great times when radical Muslims were allies of the US, and mobile computer looked like an oversized sewing machine…
Next ad also says much. When Osborne 1 was released, computers weren’t that popular. In fact, Osborne 1 didn’t compete against other computers but against briefcases and typing machines.
The Osborne effect
All jokes aside, Osborne 1 was an excellent machine for its time. It effectively provided the same thing as a decent desktop, in a mobile package, for a smaller price, and with more user-friendly attitude… A recipe for success?
No, unfortunately not. Even though it earned $72 million during the first year of operation, in 1982 Osborn Computer Corporation experienced financial difficulties, by 1983 it was in deep crisis, laying off staff and closing factories, and in September 1983 it filed for bankruptcy. Remaining stock of Osborn 1’s was liquidated at $995 price.
The blame for this surprising downfall is most often put on Adam Osborn himself. Even as a CEO, he was still a computer journalist at heart. He publicly complained at Osborne 1, claiming its specs are “merely adequate”. He was promising that a real revolution is just around the bend, and that next model will be faster, better, lighter, cheaper, and that it will come soon. Retailers cancelled their orders for Osborne 1, because they didn’t want to keep it in stock when the supposed dream machine comes.
It never did.
Next couple of months brought only a slightly upgraded version, Osborne Executive, that failed to gather any attention. Today in marketing, this is known as the “Osborne Effect”, a premature preview that undercuts sales of your current products.
Of course, there were many other reasons that pulled Osborne Computer under. The company overgrew and was not prepared for even slightest sales decline. A fierce competition arrived, in form of Kaypro II Computer. Work on next Osborne models didn’t progress as planned. Upgraded Executive model was too expensive. Business was poorly ran.
Osborne 1 might have failed, but it showed one important thing – people actually wanted to have mobile computers, something that was not really obvious before. Other devices soon followed, the trend grew. Now, 30 years after Osborne 1, desktops are in decline, and soon most of us will be using a tablet or a laptop as a main computer. It is also speculated that Osborne was the one who inspired Steve Jobs to simplify the consumer decision-making: instead of wild array of available configurations, he offered just two “plug-and-play” models, with possible upgrades.
This small, inconspicuous machine started it all.