Brand: Osborne
Founded: 1981
By: Adam Osborne
In: USA
Defunct: 1983

It is best known for the wholesale success of the Osborne 1, the first widely accepted portable computer.

Between 1975 and 1979, Adam Osborne published technical books on computing through Osborne Books. After selling the company, he used the money to create Osborne Computer Corporation.

From 1979 onward, and for more than two years, together with Lee Felsenstein, the brand's designer, they designed the Osborne 1, the first commercially successful portable personal computer. It was launched in April 1981.

This product was their first and most successful product, due largely to its low cost of approximately US$1,795.

This computer supported the use of the WordStar word processor, the SuperCalc spreadsheet, and the MailMerge email program, all Microsoft products.

Eight months after its launch, 11,000 Osborne 1s had been produced, and the company had more than 3,000 employees and revenues of more than $73 million.

After the success of the Osborne 1, the company had to compete against computer giants like IBM to maintain its power.

Because of this, OCC decided to announce its new product to the press, the Osborne Executive, which represented a considerable advance over its predecessor. Upon learning of this, buyers quickly canceled their orders for the Osborne 1, forcing the company to lower the price of its first product from US$1,295 in July 1983 to US$995 in August of the same year. This is known as the Osborne effect.

The financial losses were incalculable, and the company declared bankruptcy on Tuesday, September 13, 1983.

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