Wang Laboratories was built on An Wang’s engineering talent. Through the 1970s it dominated business word processing with dedicated Wang workstations that cost thousands of dollars but needed no computing knowledge — secretaries could use them at once. By the late 1980s Wang had around $3 billion in annual revenue and 33,000 employees, a pillar of the Massachusetts technology economy.
The IBM PC and cheap software ended that business: word processing became a program, not a machine. Wang missed the shift, then compounded it — in October 1983 it announced 14 products in one event, almost none of which shipped, wrecking its credibility with customers and resellers. An Wang installed his son Frederick as president in 1986 over senior managers’ objections, and key executives left. An Wang died in March 1990. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 18 August 1992, emerging in 1993 as a shadow of itself before Getronics absorbed the remnants in 1999.
Worth remembering
- An Wang invented a form of magnetic core memory in 1949 and held a patent IBM licensed; that royalty helped fund the company's early years.
- Wang held a large share of the office word-processing market by the mid-1970s and advertised on television before Apple's famous 1984 commercial aired.
Sources
- Wang filed for bankruptcy on 18 August 1992 after peak revenues near $3 billion and about 33,000 employees in the late 1980s. Wikipedia
- In October 1983 Wang announced 14 products in a single day, most of which never shipped, damaging its credibility; founder An Wang died in March 1990. Tedium
- Wang's 2200 and word-processing systems dominated business computing through value-added resellers before the PC era made the model obsolete. Computer History Museum
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.