Computers & Business Machines

• 

  Wang LOCI-2 Electronic Calculator

  Description

  One of the first programmable electronic calculators, this instrument was announced in 1964 and sold from 1965. It was designed by An Wang (1920-1990) and his associates. Wang, a native of Shanghai, immigrated to the United States after World War II, studied computer science at Harvard University, and worked at the Harvard Computation Laboratory. He started his own business in 1951, producing magnetic core memories and other electronic equipment on order. The LOCI or “logarithmic calculating instrument” was the first product marketed by the company. Two versions of the machine were announced: the LOCI I, which was not programmable, and the LOCI II, which was.

  The desktop machine has nine digit keys arranged in an array, as well as a zero bar and a decimal point key. Depressing other keys changes the sign of the number, shifts the decimal point, shifts from the logarithmic to the work register, and shifts from the work to the logarithmic register. Further keys are for arithmetic operations, squares, square roots, inverse squares, inverse square roots, inverse logarithms, and clearance of various registers. To the right are controls for the decrement counter, the program counter, and the operation code. According to company advertising, the machine offers ten-digit precision in addition and subtraction and eight-digit precision in multiplication, division, exponentiation, root extraction, and logarithm computation. It has five storage registers of ten-digit capacity and a ten-digit display, plus a display for the sign of the answer. A cooling fan and a cord are at the back. The card reader attachment that plugs into the back holds program cards.

  A tag on the front of the machine reads: LOCI-2. A tag on the back reads: ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS AND DEVICES (/) LOCI II (/) MODEL NO. 2AB (/) SERIAL NO. 2734 (/) TEWKSBURY, MASS. U.S.A. A paper tag on the back of the machine indicates that it was serviced 4/28/68, 9/12/68, and 2/9/71.

  According to a 1964 flier, the machine was to sell for $4,750.00. Kenney says that the initial price was $6,500. Wang Laboratories would go on to sell the 300 series of calculators (from 1966) and the 700 series (from 1969), and to manufacture minicomputers and networked microcomputers.

  For related objects and documents, see 1980.0096.02 through 1980.0096.10.

  Compare 1980.0096.01 with the later 1983.0171.01 (a Wang Series 700 calculator), and the even later 2011.0022.01 (a Wang Series 600 calculator).

  References:

  There is an extensive discussion of the LOCI II at the website of the Old Calculator Museum. See:http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/wangloci.html

  Wang Laboratories, Inc., “LOCI-2 Open New Vistas to your Personal Computing . . .,” Tewksbury, Ma., 1964. This is 1980.0096.08. A similar leaflet describes the LOCI-1 and has museum number 1980.0096.07.

  Charles C. Kenney, Riding the Runaway Horse: The Rise and Decline of Wang Laboratories, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1992.

  date made

  1965 or later

  date received

  1980

  maker

  Wang Laboratories

  ID Number

  1980.0096.01

  catalog number

  1980.0096.01

  accession number

  1980.0096

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Apple I Microcomputer

  Description

  In 1975, Steve Wozniak designed the Apple I as his personal computer to use the ARPANET and play games. Its enthusiastic reception among the members of Silicon Valley’s Homebrew Computer Club prompted Wozniak and Steve Jobs to form Apple Computers to manufacture the Apple I. Wozniak designed the Apple I around two principles; making the machine affordable by minimizing the number of chips; and the ability to output video to a TV screen most users already owned. With the incorporation of the microprocessor and dynamic RAM, the Apple I proved how small, simple, and cheap a usable computer could be.

  The computer sold as a single board for $666.66 since Wozniak liked repeating digits. To complete the setup the board required a video display monitor, an ASCII encoded keyboard, and an AC connected power unit supplying 8 volts at 3 amps and 28 volts at 1 amp. Aside from the 6502 microprocessor running at 1.023 MHz, the Apple included four kilobytes of memory (enough to run BASIC), expandable to 8KB on board, or 64KB using expansion cards. A cassette interface was also available for the expansion slot, allowing for data storage and programming, such as easily loading the BASIC interpreter without having to program it in by hand.

  The Apple I heralded a shift in personal computing. In the years prior, most computers were sold as kits, or assembled at a premium by the manufacturer. The purchase of a board that was completely tested and in working order led to “hassle-free” computing, helping spur personal computing towards a more mainstream consumer market. In 1977, the Commodore PET, TRS-80, and Apple II were released as assembled PCs, and hardware and software companies surged into a newly created market.

  Apple Computers gave owners the option to trade in their Apple I for an Apple II, mainly to free Wozniak from his customer services duties as the only designer of the computer. With about only 200 made, and many removed from circulation due to the returns, Apple I’s have become a valuable collector’s item.

  date made

  1976

  co-founder of Apple Inc.

  Jobs, Steve

  Wozniak, Steve

  maker

  Apple Computer, Inc.

  ID Number

  2015.0001.01

  catalog number

  2015.0001.01

  accession number

  2015.0001

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Monitor, Radio Shack TRS-80 Monitor

  Description

  Don French, a buyer for the consumer electronics chain Tandy Radio Shack (TRS), believed that Radio Shack should offer an assembled personal computer and hired engineer Steve Leininger to design it. In the summer of 1977, Radio Shack introduced the TRS-80 for $599. You could purchase the computer without a display for $399.95, but the most common configuration was buying the computer, monitor, and datacassette recorder for $599. For the accompanying keyboard and computer, see 1983.0169.01.

  date made

  1977-1981

  maker

  Tandy Corporation

  ID Number

  1983.0169.02

  catalog number

  1983.0169.02

  accession number

  1983.0169

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Federal Express SuperTracker

  Description

  This is a Federal Express SuperTracker handheld barcode scanner, first introduced in 1986. The SuperTracker is a critical part of FedEx’s Customers, Operations, and Services Master On-line System (COSMOS) used to track packages and confirm deliveries. Customer agents, couriers, and sorting personnel use the SuperTracker to scan barcodes on packages as they move through the Federal Express system. Providing information about a package’s location, status, and movement became an integral part of delivery companies, with every major carrier implementing a package tracking system.

  Reference:

  Carl Niehls, “Custodial Package Tracking at Federal Express,” in Managing Innovation: Cases from the Services Industries, ed. Bruce R. Guile and James Brian Quinn (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1988), 57–81.

  date made

  1986

  ID Number

  1993.0228.01

  catalog number

  1993.0228.01

  accession number

  1993.0228

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Philips Velo 1

  Description

  The Velo 1, made by Philips in 1997, is a personal digital assistant weighing less than a pound. The owner could use popular Microsoft programs, send faxes, surf the Web, record voice memos, and much more. It used a stylus instead of a mouse to navigate the screens. Files, e-mails, and other data could be synchronized between the Velo 1 and a desktop computer using a docking station and ActiveSync software.

  This handheld device shipped with Microsoft’s Windows CE version 1 operating system. Bundled with the operating system were Microsoft’s “Pocket” versions of Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Internet Explorer. Other applications included calculator, voice memo recording, world clock, bFAX Pro, PC Link, Remote Networking, and Solitaire.

  The overall case is dark gray. Printed in the lower right corner of the cover is the name “Philips”. The left side of the cover is a silver- colored insert with “VELO1 4MB” printed on it. (The 4MB refers to the amount of RAM.) The front edge of the device has three indicator lights (recharging, serial connection, alarm). The top edge has the spring-loaded open button on the right and the omnidirectional microphone on the left. Inside is a standard 61-key QWERTY keyboard (the ten numeric keys are preprogrammed to access the primary applications when used with the alt key). To the upper left of the keyboard is the power button, and to the upper right is the slot for storing the stylus. The LCD screen displays 480x240 pixels in grayscale. To the left of the screen is a flip door for the RJ-11 phone jack, to the upper right, the backlight button. The serial connector for the docking station, DC power adapter jack, and infared port are located on the left edge of the keyboard. The contrast dial is located on the right edge of the screen. The back houses the main battery compartment (secured with a spring-loaded slide button), backup battery compartment (secured with a miniature Phillips screw), RAM card slot (secured with a miniature Phillips screw), a flip-door covering the Type II PC Card V connector, and the Flash/ROM slot (secured with a spring-loaded slide button). The power sources for this device are a NiMH battery pack (rated to last 8-10 hours), or two AA batteries (rated to last 8-12 hours), or AC power.

  The objects in accession 2016.0361 and non-accession 2016.3194 are related.

  date made

  1997

  designer

  Philips

  maker

  Philips

  ID Number

  2016.0361.01

  accession number

  2016.0361

  catalog number

  2016.0361.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Employee Badge for Michael Dell

  Description

  This employee badge was used by Dell Inc. founder and CEO Michael Dell and provided global access to all Dell facilities. The ID badge was used from around 1994 until the time it was donated to the Museum in 2007. The badge is white with a blue Dell logo at the top and a head shot of Michael Dell in the center. The bottom of the badge features the employee's name, "Michael Dell," and his employee number, "1.” An image of Dell Inc.’s headquarters, Round Rock 1, is in the background, and the badge is covered with a holographic layer to prevent tampering.

  date made

  1984

  maker

  Dell Inc.

  ID Number

  2007.0042.05

  catalog number

  2007.0042.05

  accession number

  2007.0042

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Mainframe Computer Component, Williams Tube Electrostatic Memory from the Ferranti Mark I Computer

  Description

  Not long after the end of World War II, developers in both the United States and Great Britain set out to build new forms of room-sized mainframe computers. One challenge was storing the information generated by with a computer program. Frederick C. Williams and Tom Kilburn headed a team at the University of Manchester in Manchester, England, that developed a computer memory in which bits of data were stored on the charged screen of a cathode ray tube. Information on the screen was refreshed every fifth of a second. Such an electrostatic memory came to be called a Williams tube.

  Williams tubes were first used on the Manchester Mark I, a computer built at the university there in 1948 and used until 1950. Impressed by the machine, the British government contracted with the Manchester firm of Ferranti, Ltd., to build nine commercial versions of it. These appeared between 1951 and 1957. This Williams tube comes from the Ferranti Mark I built for the AVROE Company in Manchester in 1954. That computer was used there for ten years to solve problems associated with aircraft design, management, and programmable machine tools.

  There are six vacuum tubes across the front of the amplifier, all marked: MULLARD. The first on the right is markedL 606VD, the second: 606UB, the thrid: 6064SL. A mark in the upper right corner reads: FERRANTI.

  The contents of the memory of a Mark I was represented by a grid of dots on the screens of the Williams tubes. As early as 1951, British schoolmaster Christopher Strachey began work on a program that allowed him to play draughts (checkers) on the Ferranti Mark I at the University of Manchester. Using this program, it was possible to make the screen of one Williams tube appear like a checkerboard – though not to show moves of individual pieces. Other computer programmers – and later video game enthusiasts – would go further.

  References:

  Accession file.

  Martin Campbell-Kelly, “Christopher Strachey,” , 7, #1, January, 1985, pp. 19-42.

  J. W. Cortada, Historical Dictionary of Data Processing Technology, New York: Greenwood Press, 1987, pp. 256-258.

  Simon Lavington, Early British Computers, Bedford, Massachusetts: Digital Press, 1980.

  date made

  1954

  maker

  Ferranti Limited

  ID Number

  CI.334386

  catalog number

  334386

  accession number

  309902

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  TRS-80 Model 100 Microcomputer

  Description

  The Tandy/Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 was one of the precursors to the modern laptop. The functions were fairly limited but the size and battery power were well recieved.

  This computer was actually made by Kyocera, now a brand name recognized worldwide as a manufacturer of popular cell phone and PDA hybrids.

  date made

  ca 1983

  user

  Ceruzzi, Paul

  maker

  Tandy Corporation

  ID Number

  1995.0176.01

  accession number

  1995.0176

  catalog number

  1995.0176.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  PC's Limited Turbo Keyboard

  Description

  Michael Dell’s PC’s Limited Turbo PC came with an eighty-four-key AT-style keyboard. The AT-style keyboard was compatible with the IMB PC/AT computer and featured the function keys to the left, ten numerical keys at the top, and light-up buttons indicating Caps Lock, Number Lock, and Scroll Lock. The keyboard connected to the Turbo PC via a five-pin DIN connector.

  date made

  1985

  maker

  Dell Inc.

  ID Number

  2007.0042.03

  catalog number

  2007.0042.03

  accession number

  2007.0042

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Amdek Video 310A Monitor

  Description

  The Amdek Video 310A twelve-inch cathode ray tube monochrome display monitor accompanied a 1985 PC’s Limited Turbo PC (2007.0042.01). Monochrome monitors only have the ability to display text in one color. The shade of the text depends on the type of phosphor used in the cathode ray tube. The Amdek 310A contained P3 phosphor, displaying amber characters on the screen.

  Reference:

  Amdek Corporation, Model 310/310A Owner’s Manual, 1984.

  date made

  1985

  maker

  Dell Inc.

  ID Number

  2007.0042.02

  catalog number

  2007.0042.02

  accession number

  2007.0042

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  PC'S Limited Microcomputer

  Description

  In 1984 Michael Dell was a freshman at the University of Texas, building PCs and selling them to fellow students and faculty. By 1985 Dell’s company, PC’s Limited, was selling Turbo PC IBM clones that came with an Intel 8088 microprocessor, 640 kilobytes of RAM, a 360-kilobytes drive, a 130-watt power supply, eight expansion slots, and the ability to connect to local area networks (LAN). One of Dell’s selling points was the option to order a PC over the phone with customized components. This connection with the consumer and the ability to keep inventory low until a computer was ordered gave Dell a distinct business advantage going forward. This computer was sold to Clint Johnson, a freelance writer in North Carolina. In 2005 he donated the computer back to Dell Inc., which gave it to the Museum in 2007.

  References:

  Owen Edwards, “Baby Dell,” Smithsonian Magazine, August 2007.

  Nancy Fowler Koehn, Brand New: How Entrepreneurs Earned Consumers' Trust from Wedgwood to Dell (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2001), 276–305.

  date made

  1985

  maker

  Dell Inc.

  ID Number

  2007.0042.01

  catalog number

  2007.0042.01

  accession number

  2007.0042

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Xerox Alto Monitor & Keyboard

  ID Number

  1989.0432.01.2

  catalog number

  1989.0432.01.2

  accession number

  1989.0432

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Texas Instruments Little Professor Teaching Calculator

  Description

  Introduced in mid-1976, the Little Professor is a non-printing electronic calculator modified to present simple arithmetic problems. A correct answer prompts another problem on the eight-digit display. An error delivers the message, "EEE." The colorful keyboard shows a professor with whiskers and glasses. The red light-emitting diode screen, in combination with the top of the instrument, looks like a mortar board.

  This example has buttons that allow one to set the level of problems, as well as an on/off button on the front rather than the side of the machine. These features were introduced in a version of the machine made from 1978 onward.

  Reference:

  P. A. Kidwell, A. Ackerberg-Hastings, and D. L. Roberts, Tools of American Mathematics Teaching, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008, pp. 261–262.

  date made

  ca 1978

  maker

  Texas Instruments

  ID Number

  1986.0988.197

  accession number

  1986.0988

  catalog number

  1986.0988.197

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Texas Instruments SR-10 Handheld Electronic Calculator

  Description

  This is an example of the first model of a scientific calculator marketed by Texas Instruments. The handheld electronic calculator has a black and ivory-colored plastic case with an array of twenty-three plastic keys. Twenty-one of these are square, the 0 and the total keys are rectangular. In addition to ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a total key, and four arithmetic function keys, the calculator has a reciprocal key, a square key, a square root key, a change sign key, an enter exponent key, a clear key, and a clear display key. Text above the keyboard, just below the display and to the left, reads: SR10. Behind the keyboard is a 12-digit LED display. Numbers larger than eight digits are displayed in scientific notation. A mark behind the display reads: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS. An on/off switch is right and slightly above this.

  The back edge of the calculator has a jack for a recharger/adapter. A sticker on the back gives extensive instructions. It also gives the serial number SR10 275812.

  Unscrewing screws near the top and bottom of the back reveals the workings of the calculator. It has a total of five chips. The largest of these is marked TMS 0120 NC (/) C7333. This is a TMS0120 chip, manufactured in mid-1973. Also in the case is space for three AA nickel-cadmium batteries.

  The leather zippered case has both a loop and a hook for attaching the calculator to a belt. It also holds an instruction pamphlet entitled Texas Instruments electronic slide rule calculator SR-10, copyrighted 1973. A warranty registration on the inside of the back page indicates these instructions were originally sold with an SR-10 calculator with serial number 170334, purchased on September 27, 1973.

  Texas Instruments described the SR-10 as an “electronic slide rule calculator,” hence the “SR” in the name. The first version of the device, introduced in 1972, did not have the mark SR-10 on the keyboard. The second version (introduced 1973) and the third (introduced 1975) did. This is an example of the first version. According to Ball & Flamm, it initially sold for $149.95.

  Compare 1986.0988.351, 1986.0988.354, and 1986.0988.356.

  References:

  Guy Ball and Bruce Flamm, The Complete Collector’s Guide to Pocket Calculators, Tustin, CA: Wilson/Barnett, 1997, p. 153.

  The online Datamath Museum includes versions of the SR-10 from 1972, 1973, and 1975.

  date made

  1972

  Date made

  1973

  maker

  Texas Instruments

  ID Number

  1986.0988.354

  catalog number

  1986.0988.354

  accession number

  1986.0988

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Personal Digital Assistant, Apple Cadillac PDA

  Description

  This portable, pen-operated personal digital assistant has a black plastic case and a clear screen. A space for an electronic pen is above the screen, although the pen presently with the device does not fit into the space. The pen can be plugged in to either the left or the right side of the Cadillac.

  Below the screen is an Apple logo. A tag on the left of the screen reads: SEUTØ13. A tag on the back reads: SEUTØ13 (/) IC.

  The Cadillac is a manufacturer’s prototype of the Newton personal digital assistant – Apple would sell the Newton from 1993 until 1998. This example of the Cadillac was owned by Rodney Sol Furmanski (1963-2009), a mechanical engineer by training who worked at Claris as a test engineer. He used the object to test the Newton operating system.

  Source:

  Accession file.

  date made

  ca1990

  maker

  Apple Computer, Inc.

  ID Number

  2010.0023.1

  accession number

  2010.0023

  catalog number

  2010.0023.1

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Software, Basic for the Altair on Paper Tape

  Description

  In the mid-1960s, Dartmouth College professors John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz developed a computer language intended to be easy to learn and use. They called it BASIC--Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. Students learned BASIC on a teletype terminal that communicated with a central computer. Several terminals were linked to one computer as part of a system called timesharing. Students on remote terminals could use the computer without seeing it--or even knowing what kind of computer it was. This particular BASIC tape was used with an MITS Altair 8800, a later microcomputer.

  date made

  ca 1975

  ID Number

  1986.0463.24

  catalog number

  1986.0463.24

  accession number

  1986.0463

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1 Personal Computer

  Description

  In the early 1970s, most personal computers came as hobbyist kits requiring a high level of technical expertise to assemble. Don French, a buyer for the consumer electronics chain Tandy Radio Shack (TRS), believed that Radio Shack should offer an assembled personal computer and hired engineer Steve Leininger to design it. In the summer of 1977, Radio Shack introduced the TRS-80 for $599. This offering included a BASIC language interpreter, four kilobytes of RAM, a Zilog Z80 processor at 1.77 megahertz, a twelve-inch video monitor, a cassette recorder, a power supply, and a cassette tape containing the games Blackjack and Backgammon. While some Tandy executives were skeptical about the success of the PC market, the availability of the TRS-80 on five thousand Radio Shack store shelves helped the Model 1 sell over one hundred thousand units during its first year, which was 50 percent of the total PCs sold in 1978.

  The TRS-80 had its microprocessor inside its keyboard. While you could purchase just the TRS-80 for $400, most opted for the package that included the twelve-inch monitor and cassette recorder for $600. This example of the object includes the TRS-80 Expansion Interface for $299 (the monitor sits on it) that gave the machine an extra thirty-two kilobytes of memory. Also part of the system are two Mini-Disk drives that sold for $499 and a suitcase for carrying all this around.

  One also could purchase such accessories as a TRS-80 Telephone Interface II for $199 that allowed for network communication and printer for $399. Examples of these are in the Smithsonian collections, although they were not received with this specific microcomputer.

  References:

  Radio Shack, A Tandy Company, 1978 Catalog No. 289, page 166, accessed September 1, 2014, http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalogs/1978

  Radio Shack, A Tandy Company, 1979 Catalog No. 302, pages 79–82, accessed September 1, 2014, http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalogs/1979

  “BYTE News,” BYTE, May 1979, 117.

  Peggy A. Kidwell and Paul E. Ceruzzi, Landmarks in Digital Computing (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994), 96–99.

  date made

  1977-1981

  maker

  Tandy Corporation

  ID Number

  1983.0169.01

  catalog number

  1983.0169.01

  accession number

  1983.0169

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  National Semiconductor 103A Handheld Electronic Calculator

  Description

  This handheld electronic calculator comes in a checkbook and is designed to assist in balancing checking accounts. It has a total of thirty-one plastic keys. On the left side are ten digit keys, a clear entry/clear key, a decimal point key, and four arithmetic function keys. At the center are a % key, a total key, an off key, an on key, and a DB key. On the right is a row of keys for a checking account for entering checks and deposits, and finding balances. A second row of three keys is for indicating charges, payments, and balances in a charge account. A third row of keys for a second charge account. At the bottom right corner is a grand total key.

  Behind the keyboard is an eight-digit LCD display. To the right of it are three brightly colored dots. Text to the left reads: NSC National Semiconductor 103A.

  The back of the calculator is riveted to the calculator, so marks there were not recorded. A mark on the circuit board reads: NS-103B-1 (/) A=5 (/) B=10.

  Text on the inside of the checkbook reads: MADE IN TAIWAN. The checkbook also includes space for a pen.

  Compare 1986.0988.227 and 1986.0988.336.

  References:

  Frank Macias, “Calculating Friends: Delegate That Everyday Balancing Act to These Little Guys with Big Brains,” Los Angeles Times, November 19, 1978, p. O64.

  [Advertisement], Washington Post, February 13, 1981, p. A41. On sale for $29.95, regularly $34.95.

  date made

  1978-1981

  maker

  National Semiconductor Corporation

  ID Number

  1986.0988.148

  catalog number

  1986.0988.148

  accession number

  1986.0988

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Model of an IBM System 360 Computer

  Description

  In 1964 IBM Corporation announced a new family of room-sized computers, the IBM 360 System. It included several models of differing cost and capabilities. These embraced a full circle of computer applications, from business data processing to sophisticated science and engineering; hence the name 360. To sell the new product, IBM salesmen used scale models like this one. It shows the smallest IBM 360 System, the 30. Depending on the components selected, it rented for between $2,700 and $20,000 per month. More powerful versions of the System/360 rented for around $115,000 per month.

  Components include the central processing unit with control panel (attached is a desk with the printer-keyboard), a disc storage unit, three forms of tape drive, a disk storage drive, and a printer with paper. Most systems also would have included a card punch and a card reader. Each room-sized computer had its own staff who prepared programs on punched cards or magnetic tape, entered them into computers, maintained the circuitry, and delivered results. If an organization acquired one of the machines, most employees would never see it.

  The IBM 360 proved a highly successful product worldwide. This model was used by Timothy J. Bergin first in teaching computer science and then in exhibits at American University.

  References:

  IBM, IBM System / 360 Installation Manual - Physical Planning.

  E. W. Pugh, L. R. Johnson and J. H. Palmer, IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991.

  date made

  ca 1964

  date received

  2013

  maker

  IBM

  ID Number

  2013.0129.02

  accession number

  2013.0129

  catalog number

  2013.0129.02

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  iPod

  Description

  Originally sold in 2001 by Apple Inc. as a portable music player exclusively for Macintosh’s operating system, the iPod’s market share began to grow as it included Windows operability in 2002 and introduced its iTunes Store in 2003. In June of 2004 this fourth generation iPod was announced, notably adopting the “Click Wheel” controls from the iPod mini and vaulting the iPod to a 90 percent share of the portable music player market. The fourth generation iPod priced the 20GB version at $299 and the 40 GB model for $399.

  date made

  2004

  maker

  Apple Computer, Inc.

  ID Number

  2008.0025.01

  catalog number

  2008.0025.01

  accession number

  2008.0025

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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