The fate of Lisa

When Lisa arrived on the scene it caused a lot of excitment. Apple's stock jumped from $24 a share to over $60 in the space of a few months. But despite this Lisa did not sell well. The high price and slow speed of the original Lisa held back sales. Apple's stock dropped back to $17 per share.

Another problem was the 5.25 inch floppy drives. The Lisa's floppy drives were made by Apple and were prone to problems. Apple has never made a floppy drive since (Mac floppy drives are made by Sony).

Press stories about Apple planning a smaller, cheaper "baby Lisa" (released as the Macintosh) didn't help sales either.

In January 1985 Apple re-badged Lisa as the Macintosh XL. Within a few months, April 1985, the Mac XL was discontinued. Sun Remarketing bought 5,000 Lisas and sold them for several years.

"He was dead set againt the Macintosh for the first two years. He said it was the dumbest thing on earth and that it would never sell. When he decided to take it over, he told everybody that he had invented it."
	Apple's Jef Raskin on Steve Jobs

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