Editing Osborne effect (section)

==Criticism==
Interviews with former employees cast doubt on the idea that Osborne's downfall was caused solely by announcement ahead of availability.<ref name="pbs">{{cite web|title=The Osborne Effect|work=The Osborne Effect: Sometimes What Everyone Remembers Is Wrong | url=https://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2005/pulpit_20050616_000856.html | access-date=25 November 2009 | date=16 June 2005 | publisher=PBS | last=Cringely | first=Robert X. | author-link=Robert X. Cringely | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090628080856/https://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2005/pulpit_20050616_000856.html | archive-date=28 June 2009}}</ref><ref name="register">{{cite web |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/20/no_osborne_effect_at_osborne/ |title=Taking Osborne out of the Osborne Effect |author=Andrew Orlowski |publisher=[[The Register]] |date=20 June 2005 |access-date=22 June 2009}}</ref>

After renewed discussion of the Osborne effect in 2005, columnist [[Robert X. Cringely]] interviewed ex-Osborne employee Mike McCarthy, and clarified the story behind the Osborne effect. Purportedly, while the new Executive model from Osborne Computer was priced at US$2,195 and came with a {{convert|7|in|mm|sigfig=3|adj=on}} screen, competitor [[Kaypro]] was selling a computer with a {{convert|9|in|mm|sigfig=3|adj=on}} screen for $400 less, and the Kaypro machine had already begun to cut into sales of the Osborne 1, a computer with a {{convert|5|in|mm|sigfig=3|adj=on}} screen for $1,995.

Consequently, after inventory of the Osborne 1 had been cleared out, McCarthy believed, customers switched to Kaypro, causing monthly sales of the Executive to fall to less than 10% of its predecessor.

On 20 June 2005, ''[[The Register]]'' quoted Osborne's memoirs and interviewed Osborne repairman Charles Eicher to tell a tale of corporate decisions that contributed to the company's demise.<ref name="register" /> Apparently, while sales of the new model were relatively slow, they were starting to show a profit when a vice president discovered that there was an inventory of fully equipped motherboards for the older models worth $150,000. Rather than discard the motherboards, the vice president sold Osborne leadership on the idea of building them into complete units and selling them.

Soon, $2&nbsp;million was spent to turn the motherboards into completed units, and for [[cathode-ray tube|CRTs]], [[RAM]], [[floppy disk]] drives, to restore production and fabricate the molded cases. This was far more money than anybody anticipated, and also more than the company could afford at that time. In his autobiography, Osborne described this as a case of "throwing good money after bad".<ref name="register"/> It was at this time that the company folded.