Editing IBM PCjr (section)

===Response to poor sales===
By mid-1984, the PCjr had experienced months of bad publicity, and dealers were panicking.{{r|mccarroll19841224}} Sales were poor and falling each month before rising slightly with the June discounts, and each dealer sold an average of 15 units total in the first half of the year.{{r|bulman19841105}} Apple sold almost as many IIc computers on its first day as PCjr since introduction.{{r|levy198501}}

IBM downplayed complaints about the keyboard,{{r|sanger19840422}}{{r|levy198501}} but in July announced that it would replace the chiclet keyboards, for free, with a new model with conventional typewriter-style keys.{{r|levy198501}} This was perceived as unusually generous even for IBM, especially within the computer industry.{{r|halfhill198410}}<ref name="mccarroll19841224" /><ref name="lima19841203">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qS4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA60 | title=New PC Jr | access-date=February 25, 2011 | author=Lima, Tony | date=December 3, 1984 | work=InfoWorld | pages=60–61}}</ref> By replacing the keyboards IBM was acknowledging the original models were a mistake.{{r|halfhill198410}}{{r|nichols20140322}}

In August 1984, IBM began a massive advertising campaign which ran through the end of the year.{{r|bulman19841105}} They reduced the PCjr's list price, offering a US$999 package meant to be superior to the comparably priced Apple IIe and IIc, and they introduced new IBM-made memory expansion options to bring the machine to 512&nbsp;KB.<ref name="halfhill198410">{{cite news | url=http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue53/020_1_IBMs_New_Improved_PCjr.php | title=IBM's New & Improved PCjr | access-date=February 24, 2011 | author=Halfhill, Tom R. | date=October 1984 | work=Compute! | pages=50}}</ref> As part of $32.5 million in advertising for the computer during 1984,<ref name="shiver19850926">{{Cite news |title=Advertising Age Report Spending by Top 100 U.S. Advertisers Up 16% in '84 |last=Shiver |first=Jube Jr. |date=September 26, 1985 |work=Los Angeles Times |page=2}}</ref> it began what the company described as the most extensive marketing campaign in IBM history, in which 98% of Americans would see at least 30 PCjr advertisements in the last four months of the year. Three simultaneous [[bundled software]] promotions, a sweepstakes with [[Procter & Gamble]], and direct mail to more than 10 million people marketed the redesigned computer,<ref name="sandler198411">{{cite news | url=http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v10n11/298_IBM_colossus_of_Armonk.php | title=IBM: Colossus of Armonk | work=Creative Computing | date=November 1984 | access-date=February 26, 2013 | author=Sandler, Corey | pages=298}}</ref>{{r|rosch19841113}} while deemphasizing the PCjr's role as a home computer and emphasizing PC compatibility.{{r|halfhill198410}}{{r|levy198501}} Advertisements listed the new price, "new typewriter-style keyboard", standard 128&nbsp;KB of memory and expansion options, the PCjr version of 1-2-3, and the ability to "run over a thousand of the most popular programs written for the IBM PC".<ref name="ibm198412">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mF8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA47 | title=Now picture this. | work=Black Enterprise | date=December 1984 | access-date=February 25, 2011 | pages=47 | type=advertisement}}</ref> A $500 rebate to dealers let them include a free color monitor with the discounted PCjr.<ref name="fastie198502">{{Cite magazine |last=Fastie |first=Will |date=February 1985 |title=An old friend takes a hard look at the IBM product line. |url=https://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v11n2/150_IBM_images_an_old_friend.php |department=IBM Images |magazine=Creative Computing |page=150 |access-date=2018-09-03}}</ref>{{r|winter19850324}}

Despite widespread skepticism,<ref name="dudek19841002">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d-tPdHcBE9wC&pg=PA35 | title=Is jr 'Likely to Succeed'? Friends Gloat, Foes Groan | work=PC Magazine | author=Dudek, Virginia | date=October 2, 1984 | access-date=October 25, 2013 | pages=35}}</ref> what became known as the "Save-the-Junior campaign"{{r|rosch19841113}} succeeded in the short term. Sales rose every month from June (1.9 units sold per store) to September (4.2){{r|bulman19841105}} and many dealers reported selling more in the weeks following the changes than in the previous seven months.<ref name="mccarroll19841224" /><ref name="sanger19841115">{{cite news
 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/15/business/at-computer-show-many-retrenching.html
 | title=At Computer Show, Many Retrenching
 | work=The New York Times
 | date=November 15, 1984
 | access-date=October 24, 2013
 | author=Sanger, David E.
}}</ref>{{r|rosch19841113}} The more expensive model now cost the {{val|p=$|800| to |900}} that had originally been expected prior to release.{{r|ap19850321}} With the new hardware options and lower prices consumers could buy a PCjr for {{US$|long=no|1000}} less than a comparable PC.{{r|diamond19840801}}{{r|halfhill198410}}

The PCjr reportedly became the best-selling computer,<ref name="kennedy19850514">{{Cite news |last=Kennedy, Don |title=Junior Axed By IBM |date=May 14, 1985 |work=PC |pages=33}}</ref> outselling the Apple IIe and IIc by four to one in some stores{{r|fastie198502}}<ref name="machrone19850402">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w1aA2lOwdNIC&pg=PA81 | title=PCjr Renaissance | work=PC Magazine | date=April 2, 1985 | access-date=October 28, 2013 | author=Machrone, Bill | pages=81}}</ref> and even the C64.{{r|mccarroll19841224}} As sales reached an estimated 50 per store in December{{r|pollack19850320}} dealers increased inventories,{{r|ap19850321}} and Tecmar resumed production of PCjr peripherals after retailers suddenly began ordering its products again.<ref name="rosch19841113">{{Cite news |last=Rosch, Winn L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Ukz6hjZEA4C&pg=PA33 |title=Jr's Growth Spurts Sales |date=November 13, 1984 |work=PC |access-date=2020-03-15 |pages=33, 35}}</ref>