---
id: "entity-ibm"
type: "entity"
entityType: "organization"
canonicalName: "IBM"
aliases: ["International Business Machines"]
source_timestamps: ["00:09:09"]
tags: ["history", "hardware"]
related: ["concept-mainframe-echo", "framework-device-shift"]
sources: ["s19-apple-trillion"]
sourceVaultSlug: "s19-apple-trillion"
originDay: 19
---
# IBM

## Profile

Referenced historically as one of the institutions that owned the mainframes in the 1970s, representing the *rented compute* era.

## Role in the Source

IBM is invoked as a Step-1 archetype in [[framework-device-shift]] and the historical anchor for [[concept-mainframe-echo]]. In the analogy:

| 1970s | 2020s |
|-------|-------|
| IBM-owned mainframes | Hyperscaler-owned cloud AI |
| Ordinary people had no access | Ordinary people get [[concept-two-class-ai]] throttled access |
| Apple II disrupted by *useful enough* local compute | Apple Silicon disrupting via [[concept-local-ai-economics]] |
| Killer app: [[entity-visicalc]] | Killer app: [[concept-native-ai-apps]] (TBD) |

IBM's role is purely as a historical anchor — there is no claim about IBM's current AI strategy in the source.