> "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." Thomas Watson, president of IBM, 1943
In 1943 there were probably only a few governments capable of paying the extreme cost, and having a valid use case, for a "computer" in 1943.
If you asked him what he thought the market was for a device that cost a month's wages, and could connect to anywhere on earth, do infinite math, remember anything perfectly, and entertain the whole household was, he probably would have had a different answer.
It was already clear then that 64K on its own was not enough, and the segment register twiddling to touch other 64K windows was seriously limiting.
The model was patchy from day 1, and would need serious effort to be future proof. Even if computers with 640K installed were rare, the design limitation of 640K possible RAM was clearly not enough.
yes companies used to hire people to just add columns of numbers.
Given all computers in that era are literal super computers of their times, that quote seems to be mostly right even till date.