logo
episode-header-image
May 2018
24m 15s

The First Computer War - Betting the Sto...

Wondery
About this episode
It’s 1961. Since his father retired 5 years earlier, Thomas Watson Jr pushed to modernize IBM from the top down. New management, new ideas, newer, faster, machines. The company has grown, employing 1,000 people, they’ve dominated the emerging computer market... and managed to frustrate the public all at the same time. IBM’s new technology is confusing and th ... Show More
Up next
Aug 2019
Business Battles | Monster vs Beats by Dre | 1
With all the hype around portable and smart speakers, it’s easy to forget that they didn’t always exist. In fact, it took one fateful meeting with Monster Cables and Interscope Records to really kick the industry off. In this one-episode Business Battle, we explore the time when ... Show More
26m 16s
Apr 2020
Amazon vs Walmart - The Big Bang Theory of E-Commerce | 1
Ninety-six percent of Americans now shop online, snapping up everything from rare coins to industrial-sized barrels of hand sanitizer. Almost half of those purchases take place on one website: Amazon. But before sales were a click away, Walmart was the top dog, decimating main st ... Show More
23m 28s
Apr 2020
Amazon vs Walmart - Provoking the Giant | 2
In the late 1990s, Walmart is happily trucking along, dominating the American retail market. They’re expanding locations and increasing their own backend efficiencies to keep prices low. It’s a formula that’s worked for decades and they see no reason to change now.But as Bezos ex ... Show More
24m 29s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2018
OS Wars_part 1
The O.S. Wars. The 1980s is a period of mounting tensions. The empires of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs careen toward an inevitable battle over proprietary software—only one empire can emerge as the purveyor of a standard operating system for millions of users. Gates has formed a pow ... Show More
29m 1s
Jun 2025
Breaking Bell | The Decision to Decide | 1
After almost a century of controlling the telecommunications industry in the United States, AT&T’s dominance is threatened by new competition. It’s a challenge that “Ma Bell” has weathered before, but this time is different—the political climate has changed, and the powerbrokers ... Show More
35m 38s