IBM and Apple hope their alliance will give both companies the resources to lead in the new workstation and information-appliance markets … Is the future simply arriving too quickly for the alliance? The very size of the organizations and the historical baggage they tote may make timely responses impossible. And other more agile computer companies are already working to create new workstation tools while the consumer electronics industry holds a lead in building information appliances.
Predictor: Saffo, Paul
Prediction, in context:In a 1991 article for The New York Times, futurist Paul Saffo writes about the future of the PC as an information appliance for networking and other uses: ”IBM and Apple hope their alliance will give both companies the resources to lead in the new workstation and information-appliance markets. But can they outlive the demise of the machine put on the business map by their 1980s rivalry? At moments, the alliance resembles nothing so much as two former rivals huddling together for comfort as their world breaks up around them. Indeed, their alliance coalesced from equal measures of desperation and vision. But the visions are new and powerful and backed by the companies’ unmatched resources. A question remains: Is the future simply arriving too quickly for the alliance? The very size of the organizations and the historical baggage they tote may make timely responses impossible. And other more agile computer companies are already working to create new workstation tools while the consumer electronics industry holds a lead in building information appliances.”
Biography:Paul Saffo was the director of a decades-old research and forecasting foundation called the Institute for the Future, located in Menlo Park, Calif., in the 1990s. This Institute was a non-profit think tank that consulted for a large number of businesses and government entities, including telecommunications and consumer companies. (Futurist/Consultant.)
Date of prediction: October 13, 1991
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Role of Govt./Industry
Name of publication: New York Times
Title, headline, chapter name: Farewell, PC – What’s Next?
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.saffo.org/farewellpc.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Stotler, Larry