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The HP calculator story pops up here occasionally. They bet huge on it and it paid off hugely. Every scientist and engineer threw away their slide-rule and boug
by 3rdAccount 8y ago
The HP calculator story pops up here occasionally. They bet huge on it and it paid off hugely. Every scientist and engineer threw away their slide-rule and bought one for a large chunk of change. The design is still iconic.
- kps 8y agoMarketing had initially estimated the HP-35 would sell 10,000 units. When 25,000 had been sold, the bug was discovered: 2.02 ln eˣ returned 2. Packard's response: “We're going to tell everyone and offer them a replacement. It would be better to never make a dime of profit than to have a product out there with a problem.” They sold 300,000 in the 3 years that model was available. “It would be better to never make a dime of profit than to have a product out there with a problem” is the reason they made a profit.