Selling the programs that personalize those personal computers
Steven Stadler, 54, a senior vice president at the Massachusetts electronics firm of GenRad bought one of the popular Apple II personal computers for about $1,500. But that was just the beginning. First he had to buy something called Apple Post (price: $50), which was a computer program that told his machine how to keep track of the family's Christmas card list. Then he bought Apple Writer, a word-processing program, for about $75, so he could draft and type company reports. To connect his machine to lists of current stock prices and financial news, using ordinary telephone lines, Stadler got the Dow Jones News and Quotes Reporter for $95; to draw charts he bought Apple Plot for $70. So far he has spent a total of nearly $800 for eight software programs.
Stadler's experience was similar to that of many new home computer users. Once they have a machine (or hardware), they have to buy programs (or software) that will enable the computer to perform the desired functions. The programs, which are mainly recorded on vinyl discs about the size of a 45 r.p.m. record, are instructions written in a mathematical code the machine can ingest.
Until recently, personal computers were owned primarily by technical specialists who wrote their own programs. But the small size and lower cost of the new microcomputers have attracted new buyers to the market, people who do not want to spend days, or even months, of tedious work writing a computer program. As a result, the business of supplying prerecorded software for the micros has grown from almost nothing in 1977 to an estimated $250 million this year, and sales of $1 billion are projected for 1985. Says Jean Yates, a senior analyst at Gnostic Concepts, a consulting firm based in Menlo Park, Calif.: "It's like having a record player. People buy one record player, but they keep buying records year after year." Currently software takes only between 100 and 150 of every dollar spent on hardware. By 1985 the proportion is expected to rise to between 250 and 350.
Much of the growth is expected in programs that are self-explanatory and simple to use. At present, complexity and cumbersomeness bedevil the software industry, creating an obstacle to even greater acceptance of microcomputers. Says Raymond Kassar, chairman of Atari: "The key for the industry is to develop software that is understandable. Everybody is saying their software is easy to use, but it isn't."
Business financial planning and word-processing programs, which can cost up to several hundred dollars, are the bread and butter of the personal software business. But more exotic programs abound
One West Coast firm says a farmer has been urging it to develop a program to rate the productivity of cows. Online, a
California software company, sells a program called Softporn for $29.25. In the computer fantasy game, players seek to seduce three women, while avoiding hazards, such as getting killed by a bouncer in a disco. About 4,000 copies have been sold, says On-line Program Designer,
Chuck Benton, adding: "I get a lot of phone calls from women asking when a
female's version of the game will be available." On-line is now working on one.