When Apple's 2,700 computers ended up in a landfill to save the company: Behind the failed $10,000 dream machine

Time of India

6 days ago

Apple's Lisa, a groundbreaking computer with a GUI, was launched in 1983 but its high price and performance issues led to its downfall. The Macintosh, a cheaper alternative, quickly overshadowed it. Facing unsold inventory, Apple controversially dumped thousands of Lisa computers in a landfill.
The Lisa vs. the Macintosh: A Family Rivalry
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Apple Macintosh Computer (left) and Apple's LISA
The Final Days of Lisa
Apple's LISA models (Image: Facebook/ Apple Lisa)
'A Better Business Decision'
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When Apple launched the Lisa in 1983, it was a marvel of innovation. With a graphical user interface (GUI), clickable icons, twin floppy drives, and a then-powerful Motorola 68000 processor, the Lisa wasn't just a computer—it was a vision of the future. Unlike the cryptic black-and-green command-line interfaces of the time, the Lisa invited users into a visual world that felt intuitive and human.Its name—'Local Integrated Software Architecture'—may have sounded sterile, but the experience it promised was anything but. For the first time, users could interact with their computer in a way that didn't require programming knowledge. It was revolutionary—but also prohibitively expensive.At $9,995 (around $30,000 today), Lisa was priced more like a luxury car than a desktop machine. And while its features dazzled on paper, the device proved slow, buggy, and too far ahead of its time.Ironically, the Lisa's most formidable rival came from within Apple itself. After being removed from the Lisa team in 1981, Steve Jobs pivoted to a scrappy project known as the Macintosh. Initially conceived as a text-based, affordable computer, Jobs reshaped the Macintosh into a GUI-driven alternative to the Lisa—just without the hefty price tag.In 1984, Apple unveiled the Macintosh to the world with its now-iconic Super Bowl commercial. At just $2,495, the Macintosh offered a similar user experience with only a fraction of the Lisa's power—but also a fraction of its cost.According to reports cited in Tom's Hardware, while Lisa sold just 50,000 units over two years, Macintosh surpassed 70,000 units within months of its launch. The writing was on the wall.Desperate to recoup losses, Apple released the Lisa 2 and rebranded it as the "Macintosh XL," slashing prices to $3,995. But the damage was done. The Mac had won consumer hearts, and the Lisa was quietly discontinued in 1986.Yet the real twist came in 1989. With thousands of unsold Lisas gathering dust in warehouses, Apple made an eyebrow-raising decision: it loaded 2,700 brand-new computers onto trucks and dumped them into a landfill in Logan, Utah.Apple spokesperson Carleen Lavasseur justified the move in a press statement at the time, quoted in Tom's Hardware: 'Right now, our fiscal year end is fast approaching and rather than carrying that product on the books, this is a better business decision.'Instead of letting them sit as financial dead weight, Apple chose to write them off—recouping up to $34 for every $100 of depreciated value. It was a business tactic, not a meltdown, but it stunned the tech world nonetheless.The Lisa story is more than a cautionary tale of market failure. It's a reminder that being first isn't the same as being ready. Apple's dream machine was perhaps too advanced, too expensive, and too misunderstood for its era. That calculated loss helped secure the company's survival, ultimately paving the way for future triumphs, including the iPhone and MacBooks we know today.