Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The announcement in Toronto of two machines - the
typewriter-sized desktop computer and the battery-operated
MCM
/70 Executive - was a typical example of how
MCM
would
continue trying to develop too many products with insufficient
financial and human resources. According to Laraya, two brief-
case
MCM
/70 prototypes were constructed, but the company
had never converted them into production models. Fortunat-
ely, added Laraya,
MCM
started questioning the validity of the
briefcase model as a product when the desktop version was yet
to be manufactured. “It was
OK
to demonstrate it but to make
it, to fashion it out of the briefcase: what about your venting?
We were shoehorning everything in … it was tough to do it.”
At the close of 1973,
MCM
was in an excellent position to
build and successfully market its
PC
. The
MCM
/70 was shown
throughout North America and Europe, and recognized as a
breakthrough in the computer industry. The company had
sufficient engineering and marketing expertise to convert the
MCM
/70 prototype into a production model and to negotiate
successful agreements with prospective North American dis-
tributors for its computer products.
MCM
was fully aware of
the new era in computing that microprocessor technology was
about to usher in and wanted to play the main role in its launch.