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The Commodore 64
Created in 1981 by MOS Technology, the Commodore 64 was the first huge push towards the home video-game market. The Commodore 64 was marketed as a being a user-friendly experience and simplified a lot of the tasks that intimidated inexperienced computer users. With a launch price of less than $600, the Commodore did more than hold it's own on release. The machine broke record sales numbers in ways that had never been seen before. -
The CD
Although the Compact Disk was originally invented in the 1960s, it wasn't until 1982 that it was commercialized to the mainstream market. With the CDP-101, Sony planned to shift the world to the future of home entertainment. The creation of this machine spawned many legal issues for Sony. However, Sony is still one of the most successful companies in the audio industry to this day. It would be incorrect to deny that the CD had a role to play in that. -
Motorola DynaTAC 8000x
A phone that we all have seen in movies like "Pretty Woman," the DynaTAC was known as a sign of the wealthy. Although other mobile phones were out there, this was the most known. Offering you 30 minutes of talk time for only a 10-hour charge, you could snag one of these up for only $4000 (that isn't even taking inflation into account). We might look at this now and laugh at the idea, but with businesses realizing the potential of a mobile phone, they were bought as fast as they could be built. -
Apple Macintosh
The Apple Macintosh launched in January 1984 with all of Steve Jobs' optimism supporting it. At the time, IBM was decimating the market and was thought to be unstoppable. Apple decided to counter IBM's position by crafting a computer that was made for the everyday user, not the experts. Decisions like this are what launched Apple to become as successful as they are, even in the modern markets. -
Microsoft Windows
Windows 1.0 launched in 1985. Windows 1.0 was built through MS-DOS (a DOS sold to IBM by Bill Gates). Although the program itself wasn't revolutionary, it introduced a lot of ideas that are still a part of our operating systems today. This also signifies a time where Bill Gates pushed IBM out and became the biggest name in the computer industry.
