The Story of VisiCalc (1979)
In 1979 a small company released the world's first "killer app" for the then tiny personal computer market. VisiCalc was like nothing that had been seen before, the very first spreadsheet for personal computers.
1979-10-17 19:00:00 - Apple
VisiCalc ("visible calculator") is the first spreadsheet computer program for personal computers, originally released for Apple II by VisiCorp on October 17, 1979. It is considered the killer application for the Apple II, turning the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool, and then prompting IBM to introduce the IBM PC two years later.
More than 700,000 copies were sold in six years, and up to 1 million copies over its history.
People bought a computer just to get VisiCalc and its sales skyrocketed, even after multiple price increases. Exclusively available on the Apple II for the first year on the market, its powerful sales made Apple Computer a front runner in the personal computer wars of the 1980s.
And then, after over a million copies had been sold across multiple computer platforms...VisiCalc faded from the computer scene and was ignominiously discontinued in 1985, after being bought out by the very company whose flagship product had killed it.