Microcom

Microcom is a company that makes telephones and telecommunications equipment. First founded in 1849 by James, Jacob, and Jackson Alcorn outside Tucson, AZ, the company still exists today under the ownership of PowerOS.
== History ==
In 1849, James Alcorn, as well as his younger brothers Jacob and Jackson Alcorn, began a telephone company called Microcom. These guys had a goal to achieve: creating affordable telephones as well as telecommunications equipment. Their first phone (named the Microcom 1) was first launched on October 14, 1865, with a price tag of $89 and was a solid success, shipping more than 160 million units in its first year on the market. Microcom continued to develop the Microcom 1 from October 1865 to October 4, 1889, with the Model 1 E-D. The Microcom 1 family was discontinued on March 9, 1905.
Over the course of the 1860s and 1870s, the company developed concepts that would shape the way telephones were made. They created model after model and soon became well known with the public. Around Easter 1888, the newest model of the Microcom phones (named the Microcom 3) was nearing launch party day, and everyone was happy for the launch to go over. However, some news came out, and it was not very good news for that matter. On August 10, 1887, the Alcorn brothers were involved in the 1887 Great Chatsworth train wreck. They sustained serious injuries and would later succumb to them the following day, August 11th. James was aged 60, Jacob was aged 58, and Jackson was aged 53. Microcom decided to hold off on the release date, not placing it after Easter 1888 but instead placing it on March 4, 1889. The Microcom 3 series was met with a pretty mediocre or poor reception from critics. As such, Microcom began losing money; massive layoffs soon followed; business deals were cancelled; and entire divisions were closed or consolidated. Microcom's crash of '89 had begun. Microcom lost $539 million from its $950.7 million market cap at the end of 1889.
A new CEO (named Peter Algenhime) was elected soon afterward, and Peter decided to release the Microcom 3 until a new phone could be made. The last model of the Microcom 3, the 3 C-A, was released in October 1891. By this point, Peter was looking for some kind of phone that could be ready by 1892. Several projects were going on to do just that, including one by an engineer who created a project named the Microcom 3D. When Peter saw this phone, he decided that they would develop it and have it ready by the following year. And on May 5, 1892, the Microcom 4 was released with a price tag of $51. This phone ended Microcom's crash, and stocks were going up.
When the 20th century started, Microcom's stocks were up to $2222.1 million, and hopes were high for the company. By the 1900s and beyond, the company had more employees and stock increases. By 1945, Microcom had hopes up. They had two new labs: Microcom Corporation and Microcom Games. Microcom Corp. handled consumer products like telephones and telecommunications equipment, while Microcom Games handled coin-based arcade games. Microcom Games was purchased by Taito in July 1953, before Taito opened in August 1953. Microcom Games only made a pentalogy of games called Pinball Mountain from 1946–1949. The Microcom Corporation lab is still open today.
In March 1958, the company had a few issues that they couldn't keep up with. The company's then CEO, Bob Hardlink, had to deal with this, and in June 1960 he said that the company would temporarily close until further notice. The company remained closed until May 1963 but had to temporarily close again in January 1972 due to similar issues. It wasn't until October 1, 1980, that the company would reopen for full-time service. From 1981 to 1982, the company began making new telephones and telecommunications equipment. But in the 1990s, their stock revenue was going down. They needed to stop another crash from happening again.
In 2000, a new CEO was elected. Her name was Lisa Campbell, and she was a shy but hard worker. However, she became nervous during her tenure as CEO. This only made stock prices go down for the company, despite the efforts made to revive it. In 2017, Campbell was scared and worried beyond belief and wanted the company to just fire her, but everyone said "no," thinking that she'd just been overworked. Stocks went further down, and it was clear the company was going to file for bankruptcy any day. On March 23, 2023, Lisa reached out to her childhood friend Mary Muse (who was running PowerOS at the time) via email.
The email is as follows:
Mary, you've got to help me! My company is dying! What do I do!?!
Mary responded with the following:
Lisa, I understand that having a company with low stocks isn't good. I'll talk with the staff at my company to see if we can purchase your company.
Lisa replied with the following:
Thank you. :)
On April 3, 2023, PowerOS had so many announcements and purchases, including buying 3.2 million tech companies for free, one of which was Microcom. PowerOS has assured the employees at Microcom that they will keep their name but update the logo with "A PowerOS Company" beneath the main logo. Microcom agreed to this change.
Microcom was scheduled to reopen as a PowerOS company on March 7, 2024, but due to the straw on the camel's back and the shutdown of PowerOS on August 21, 2023, Microcom is scheduled to reopen as a Malco company on that same date, with Mary Muse as it's CEO after the shutdown of PowerOS.
== List of phones by Microcom ==
Microcom Phone Chart
Name 	Release Date 	Discontinued 	Units sold
Microcom 1 Family 	October 14, 1865	March 9, 1905 	700 million
Microcom 2 Family 	March 9, 1877 	May 9, 1910 	100 million
Microcom 3 Family 	March 4, 1889 	March 4, 1929 	25 million
Microcom 4 Family 	May 5, 1892 	March 18, 1934 	50 million
Microcom 5 Family 	May 9, 1904 	March 9, 1944 	100 million
Microcom 6 Family 	May 4, 1914 	March 7, 1955 	200 million
Micrcom 7 Family 	April 5, 1927 	November 5, 1964	400 million
Microcom 8 Family 	November 9, 1934	March 4, 1974 	800 million
Microcom 9 Family 	October 9, 1949 	March 9, 1983 	1600 million
Microcom 10 Family	March 5, 1953 	March 3, 1995 	3200 million
Microcom 11 Family	May 30, 1969 	May 4, 2000 	6400 million
Microcom 12 Family	March 9, 1974 	March 5, 2014 	12800 million
Microcom 13 Family	January 9, 1983 	January 4, 2023 	25600 million
== List of Microcom CEOs ==
* James, Jacob, and Jackson Alcorn (1849–1887)
* Peter Algenhime (1887–1902)
* Uriel Ventura (1903–1918)
* Atlas Unlu (1919–1945)
* Bob Hardlink (1946–1965)
* Willow Santamaria (1966–1982)
* Yaakov Chen (1983–1999)
* Lisa Campbell (2000-2023)
* Mary Muse (2024-present)
== List of Microcom's Arcade games ==
Microcom's Arcade Games
Name 	Series 	Release	Genres
Pinball Mountain I 	Pinball Mountain	Arcade:
* 2 March 1946 (WW)
16-bit consoles:
* 4 March 1992 (NA)
* 9 September 1992 (PAL)
* 24 November 1992 (JP)
Game Boy Advance:
* 30 October 2007 (NA)
Windows:
* 7 March 2011 (WW)
Nintendo 3DS
* 3 September 2014 (JP)
* 9 November 2014 (WW)
iOS
* 4 March 2010 (WW)
* 9 March 2014 (EU)
* 3 August 2014 (NA)
Android:
* 4 February 2014 (WW)
Nintendo Switch:
* 4 February 2019 (WW)	Action, Pinball
Pinball Mountain II 	Pinball Mountain	Arcade:
* 5 March 1947 (WW)
16-bit consoles:
* 4 March 1993 (JP)
* 19 March 1993 (WW)
Android and iOS:
* 9 October 2014 (WW)
Nintendo 3DS:
* 9 March 2016 (JP)
* 29 October 2016 (WW)
Nintendo Switch:
* 8 February 2021 (JP)
* 2 October 2021 (WW)	Action, Pinball
Pinball Mountain III: Race Against Time	Pinball Mountain	Arcade:
* 9 May 1948 (WW)
16-bit CD consoles:
* 9 February 1994 (JP)
* 1 March 1994 (EU)
* 5 October 1994 (NA)
Windows:
* 9 February 1997 (JP)
* 5 March 1997 (NA)
* 4 November 1997 (EU)
Android, PS3, Xbox 360:
* 5 February 2012 (WW)
iOS:
* 8 November 2012 (WW)
Apple TV:
* 8 November 2017 (WW)	Action, Pinball
Pinball Mountain IV 	Pinball Mountain	Arcade:
* 5 March 1949 (WW)
16-bit consoles:
* 9 March 1995 (NA)
* 24 March 1995 (EU)
* 9 October 1995 (JP)
* 9 November 1995 (AU)
Windows:
* 8 March 1998 (JP)
* 10 May 1998 (WW)	Action, Pinball
Pinball Mountain V: Knucklehead Khoas 	Pinball Mountain	Arcade:
* 9 March 1949 (WW)
16-bit consoles:
* 9 December 1995 (WW)
Windows:
* 4 August 1998 (JP)
* 4 October 1998 (WW)	Action, Pinball
== Trivia ==
* Pinball Mountain somewhat influenced the development of Sega's 1993 Genesis/Mega Drive game Sonic Spinball.
* Microcom was, and still is, one of the most financially unstable companies of all time.
Category:Companies