Apple discarded approximately 2,700 computers in a landfill back in 1989.
In the early 1980s, Apple Inc. introduced the Lisa computer, a groundbreaking machine with a graphical user interface (GUI) and other advanced features. However, despite its innovative design, the Lisa failed to capture the market's attention, leading to its eventual discontinuation in 1986.
A High Price Point and Technical Issues
The Lisa was priced at $9,995 at launch, equivalent to over $30,000 today. This astronomical price was far beyond the reach of the average consumer and far more expensive than competitors, including the IBM PC and Apple's own Macintosh. Additionally, the Lisa suffered from significant technical issues such as frequent overheating, system crashes, and being slow and buggy overall. These reliability problems undermined user confidence in the machine.
Competition from the Macintosh
Steve Jobs, who worked on the Lisa project but was kicked off before its launch, moved to the Macintosh development project. Initially, the Mac was intended to be a low-cost text-based computer, but Jobs redirected it to make it a GUI-based machine with a more affordable price-point than the Lisa. The Macintosh, released in 1984, immediately outsold the Lisa in sales.
Market Timing and Positioning
While the Lisa was innovative for featuring a GUI and mouse, the market was not ready to adopt such an expensive and technically problematic machine. The Macintosh was positioned as a more affordable and user-friendly alternative, effectively outselling the Lisa by a large margin soon after launch.
Excess Inventory and Disposal
Due to poor sales and the company’s pivot to the Macintosh, Apple ended up with thousands of unsold Lisa units that were eventually destroyed in landfills by 1989, reflecting the machine’s commercial failure and obsolescence.
A Forgotten Pioneer
The Lisa computer, released in 1983, was Apple's first attempt at bringing a GUI to the masses. It was one of the first retail computers to be sold with a graphical user interface, named Lisa OS. The Lisa computer had a tendency to run slowly or "chug". Despite these issues, it was a pioneer in the field of personal computing, paving the way for the more successful Macintosh.
In summary, the Lisa failed because it combined a very high price point and technical unreliability with direct internal competition from Apple's cheaper and better-marketed Macintosh, leading to poor sales and eventual abandonment by Apple despite its innovative GUI and advanced hardware.
[1] Apple Lisa [2] History of Personal Computing: The Apple Lisa [3] The Rise and Fall of the Apple Lisa [4] The Forgotten Apple Lisa Computer [5] The Apple Lisa: A Computer Ahead of Its Time
- The high price point and technical issues of the Apple Lisa, coupled with the competition from the Macintosh, led to its failure in the market, despite being a pioneer in the field of personal computing with a graphical user interface.
- In the arena of lifestyle, technology, and general-news, the commercial demise of the Apple Lisa serves as a case study on market timing, positioning, and the importance of addressing technical problems in products priced beyond average consumer reach.
