Datapoint
Datapoint (originally named the Computer Terminal Corporation) was a ground-breaking business computerized information processing company.
Its most significant products was the Datapoint 2200, introduced in late 1970; the first mass-produced personal computer intended for ordinary people. The 2200 had an even bigger indirect impact, though: its CPU was initially constructed out of discrete SSI chips, but CTC contracted with Intel to produce a microprocessor (the first ever) to replace the original CPU (to reduce the unit cost). That chip was the Intel 8008, which evolved into the Intel 8080, from which the entire Intel x86 line developed.
The company's business plan from the time the founders started out had always been to produce a personal computer, but that goal was left unspoken when the company started, lest it spook investors as too grandiose (the same reason that DEC initially manufactured Programmed Data Processors, instead of 'computers'). Their first product was the Datapoint 3300, a video terminal intended to replace Teletypes (hence the company's original name); it was moderately successful.
The company was ultimately unsuccessful because it failed to foresee and/or adapt to the evolution of the computer world to the ubiquitous IBM-compatible PC, which killed off all company-specific designs, and turned PCs into a commodity business.
Further reading
- Lamont Wood, Datapoint: The Lost Story of the Texans Who Invented the Personal Computer Revolution, Hugo House, Englewood, Austin, 2012
