page_title: IBM Personal Computer
section_title: IBM PC as standard
hierarchical_section_title: IBM Personal Computer / IBM PC as standard
caption_attribution_description: English: Inside an 8088/2 PC, showing expansion cards/daughterboards, hard disk, 5¼" floppy disk drive, power supply unit and internal connections.
context_page_description: The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version of the IBM PC compatible computer design. It is IBM model number 5150 and was introduced on August 12, 1981. It was created by a team of engineers and designers directed by Don Estridge in Boca Raton, Florida.
  The generic term "personal computer" was in use years before 1981, applied as early as 1972 to the Xerox PARC's Alto, but the term "PC" came to mean more specifically a desktop microcomputer compatible with IBM's Personal Computer branded products. The machine was based on open architecture, and third-party suppliers soon developed to provide peripheral devices, expansion cards, and software. IBM had a substantial influence on the personal computer market in standardizing a design for personal computers, and "IBM compatible" became an important criterion for sales growth. Only the Apple Macintosh types of computer kept a significant share of the microcomputer market after the 1980s without compatibility with the IBM personal computer.
context_section_description: The success of the IBM computer caused other companies to develop IBM Compatibles, which in turn resulted in IBM-like diskettes being advertised as "IBM format". An IBM PC clone could be built with off-the-shelf parts, but the BIOS required some reverse engineering. Companies like Compaq, Phoenix Software Associates, American Megatrends, Award, and others achieved fully functional versions of the BIOS, allowing companies like Dell, Gateway and HP to manufacture PCs that worked like IBM's product. The IBM PC became the industry standard.
caption: Internal view of a PC compatible computer, showing components and layout.
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