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Misattributed to Thomas J. Watson
I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
This is the favourite example of a boneheaded tech prediction, trotted out whenever someone wants to laugh at experts who missed the coming boom. Its staying power comes from being too perfect to check. The real record runs the other way: IBM expected five orders for its first big electronic machine and got eighteen.
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In context
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The sentence is credited to IBM's Thomas Watson, but Quote Investigator found no solid evidence that Watson Sr. or his son Watson Jr. ever said it. IBM researchers suggested it may come from a misreading of Watson Jr. at IBM's stockholder meeting in April 1953, where he said a sales trip for the 701 machine had expected five orders and come home with eighteen. Der Spiegel wrote in 1965 that Watson put the American need at no more than five, and a 1981 book of famous bad predictions printed the line with no citation.
Sources (1)
- Quote Investigator: I Think There Is a World Market for About Five Computersconclusion and the 1953, 1965 and 1981 citationsReference checked
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