Editing IBM PCjr (section)

==Legacy==
{{quote|The PCjr was a successful product. The problem was that it only sold a few hundred thousand a year. Anybody else would love to have a product that sells a few hundred thousand a year. But that's a disaster when you plan to sell a million, million and a half a year.|[[John V. Roach]], [[Tandy Corporation]] CEO, 1988<ref name="ferrell198807">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/1988-07-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_098_1988_Jul#page/n89/mode/2up | title=Windows on John Roach | work=Compute! | date=July 1988 | accessdate=5 September 2016 | author=Ferrell, Keith | pages=88-89}}</ref>}}

The press widely covered the failure of the PCjr.{{r|sanger19850707}} Although the machine's failure had little effect on IBM's revenue ($46 billion in 1984) discontinuing such a prominent product embarrassed IBM.{{r|ap19850321}} The failure was so great that it was compared to the [[Edsel]] and [[New Coke]],<ref name="lynch19901026">{{cite news | url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-10-26/entertainment/9003300627_1_ibm-ps-prodigy-software-microsoft-works | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714115708/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-10-26/entertainment/9003300627_1_ibm-ps-prodigy-software-microsoft-works | url-status=dead | archive-date=July 14, 2014 | title=The Pros, Cons Of Buying An IBM PS/1 | work=Chicago Tribune | date=October 26, 1990 | access-date=February 4, 2015 | author=Lynch, Dennis}}</ref> and [[Oracle Corporation]] mocked a rival's product as being PCjr compatible.<ref name="oracle19880118">{{Cite magazine |date=18 January 1988 |title= The Last DBMS |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dz8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA9#v=onepage&q&f=false |access-date=2025-05-25 |magazine=[[InfoWorld]] |page=9 |volume=10 |issue=3}}</ref> IBM reportedly created a '''Chiclet rule''', requiring [[human factors]] testing for future products.<ref name="strehlo19850617">{{cite news
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FS8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA8
 | title=The Chiclet Rule and the Green Dragon
 | work=InfoWorld
 | date=June 17, 1985
 | access-date=May 31, 2016
 | author=Strehlo, Kevin
 | quote="
 | page=8}}</ref>

Some analysts speculated that IBM's bureaucratic culture, so different from that of the less-rigid Boca Raton division that created the PC, had resulted in the failure, while others thought that the absence of IBM's cautious and thorough bureaucrats had caused it. [[Philip Don Estridge|Don Estridge]] said their mistake had been to expect that first-time computer users would buy a PCjr.{{r|sanger19850707}} It was perceived by developers that IBM had entered the market without doing any research.{{r|ap19850321}}

[[Tandy Corporation]] released a clone, the [[Tandy 1000]], in November 1984,<ref name="infoworld19850121">{{cite magazine | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9y4EAAAAMBAJ&q=%22tandy+1000%22&pg=PA23 | title=BRIEFS | access-date=February 27, 2011 | date=February 12, 1985 | magazine=InfoWorld | pages=23}}</ref> describing it as "what the PCjr should have been".<ref name="bartimo19850311">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5C4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA28 | title=Tandy Revamps Product Line | work=InfoWorld | date=March 11, 1985 | access-date=January 21, 2015 | author=Bartimo, Jim | pages=28–29}}</ref> After the PCjr's discontinuation, Tandy quickly removed any mention of it in advertising, while emphasizing the {{Not a typo|1000's}} PC compatibility. The machine and its many successors sold well, unlike the PCjr, partly because the Tandy 1000 was sold in ubiquitous [[Radio Shack]] stores and partly because it was less costly, easier to expand, and almost entirely compatible with the IBM PC. The PCjr's enhanced graphics and sound standards became known as "[[Tandy Graphics Adapter|Tandy-compatible]]", and many PC games advertised their Tandy support. One company developed a PCjr modification that made it compatible with Tandy software.<ref name="loguidice2014">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZnpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA96 | title=Vintage Game Consoles: An Inside Look at Apple, Atari, Commodore, Nintendo, and the Greatest Gaming Platforms of All Time | publisher=CRC Press |author1=Loguidice, Bill |author2=Barton, Matt | year=2014 | pages=95–97 | isbn=978-1135006518}}</ref>

Ultimately, the PCjrs failure was attributed to its lack of PC compatibility.<ref name="machrone19851126">{{cite magazine | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VUKL2rKYb8UC&pg=PA59 | title=Compatibility Wars—Here and Abroad |magazine=PC Magazine | date=November 26, 1985 | access-date=October 29, 2013 | author=Machrone, Bill |page=59}}</ref> As PC clones became widely available at prices as low as $600, less than the price of the Apple IIc, consumers began purchasing DOS computers for the home in large numbers, and these inexpensive clones succeeded with consumers where the PCjr had failed, by being as fast as, or faster than the IBM PC while still being highly compatible.<ref name="halfhill198612">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/1986-12-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_079_1986_Dec#page/n33/mode/2up | title=The MS-DOS Invasion / IBM Compatibles Are Coming Home | work=Compute! | date=December 1986 | access-date=November 9, 2013 | author=Halfhill, Tom R. | pages=32}}</ref>

Several upgrades for the PCjr were designed by IBM/Teledyne but never reached store shelves before the PCjr was canceled. These included a wireless joystick and various memory and drive upgrades. PC Enterprises became the last of the major third-party vendors to supply full service, parts, and add-ons, extending the functional life of the PCjr to about 10 years, often buying out inventory and rights for PCjr support.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Company History Page|url=https://pccomponents.com/companyhistory.asp|access-date=2020-10-16|website=pccomponents.com}}</ref>

Other manufacturers provided support items for PCjr fans, such as hard drive attachments and specialized sidecars that the user could use to enhance the system. The PCjr was able to run other software designed for the PC, such as word processor, database and spreadsheet programs ran well on the PCjr with 128K of memory. When fully expanded to over 600K memory, the PCjr would run most IBM PC software.<ref>http://oldcomputers.net/ibm-pcjr.html see the comments.</ref>

IBM returned to the home market in 1990 with the [[IBM PS/1|PS/1]]. Unlike the PCjr, the PS/1 offered full PC compatibility, a low price, and a conventional keyboard.{{r|lynch19901026}}