Editing IBM Personal Computer (section)

=== Debut ===
The IBM PC debuted on August 12, 1981, after a twelve-month development. Pricing started at $1,565 for a configuration with 16&nbsp;KB RAM, [[Color Graphics Adapter]], keyboard, and no disk drives. The price was designed to compete with comparable machines in the market.<ref name="ibmpc25">{{cite web|date=January 23, 2003|title=The birth of the IBM PC|url=http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/pc25/pc25_birth.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060814072714/http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/pc25/pc25_birth.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 14, 2006|access-date=June 13, 2014|publisher=IBM Archives}}</ref> For comparison, the Datamaster, announced two weeks earlier as IBM's least expensive computer, cost $10,000.<ref name="Pollack">{{Cite news| last1 = Pollack | first1 = Andrew |date=March 27, 1983|title=Big I.B.M. Has Done It Again| language=en-US | work = [[The New York Times]] | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/27/business/big-ibm-has-done-it-again.html|access-date=October 4, 2020|issn=0362-4331 | df = dmy-all}}</ref>

IBM's marketing campaign licensed the likeness of [[Charlie Chaplin]]'s character "[[The Little Tramp]]" for a series of advertisements based on Chaplin's movies, played by Billy Scudder.<ref name="papson1990">{{cite journal|author=Papson, Stephen|date=April 1990|title=The IBM tramp|url=http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC35folder/IBMtramp.html|journal=Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media|issue=35|pages=66–72}}</ref>

The PC was IBM's first attempt to sell a computer through retail channels rather than directly to customers. Because IBM did not have retail experience, they partnered with the retail chains [[ComputerLand]] and [[Sears]], who provided important knowledge of the marketplace<ref name="mace19811005">{{cite news|author=Mace, Scott|date=October 5, 1981|title=Where You Can Go to Purchase the New Computers|page=49|work=InfoWorld|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JT0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA49|access-date=January 1, 2015}}</ref><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 | page=298}}</ref><ref name="elder198907">{{cite news | url=https://hbr.org/1989/07/new-ventures-lessons-from-xerox-and-ibm | title=New Ventures: Lessons from Xerox and IBM | work=Harvard Business Review | date=July 1989 | access-date=January 20, 2015 | author=Elder, Tait}}</ref><ref name="mcmullen19840221">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UCIvSU6Y2GAC | title=Apple Charts The Course For IBM | work=PC Magazine | date=February 21, 1984 | access-date=October 24, 2013 |author1=McMullen, Barbara E. |author2=John F. | page=122}}</ref> and became the main outlets for the PC. More than 190 ComputerLand stores already existed, while Sears was in the process of creating a handful of in-store computer centers for sale of the new product.

Reception was overwhelmingly positive, with analysts estimating sales volume in the billions of dollars in the first few years after release.<ref name="pcommuniquesfuture19820203">{{cite news|date=Feb–Mar 1982|title=Billion Dollar Baby|page=5|work=PC|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w_OhaFDePS4C&pg=PA5|access-date=February 25, 2016}}</ref> After release, IBM's PC immediately became the talk of the entire computing industry.<ref name="bunnellflying19820203">{{cite news|author=Bunnell, David|date=February 3, 1982|title=Flying Upside Down|page=10|work=PC Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w_OhaFDePS4C&pg=PA10|access-date=April 6, 2014}}</ref> Dealers were overwhelmed with orders, including customers offering pre-payment for machines with no guaranteed delivery date.<ref name="ibmpc25" /> By the time the machine began shipping, the term "PC" was becoming a household name.<ref name="edlinbunnell19820203">{{cite news|author1=Edlin, Jim|author2=Bunnell, David|date=February–March 1982|title=IBM's New Personal Computer: Taking the Measure / Part One|page=42|work=PC Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w_OhaFDePS4C&pg=PA42|access-date=October 20, 2013}}</ref>