The original Xerox copier model was the legendary 914. One of them is in the Smithsonian today. It weighed 650 pounds, could make 100,000 copies a month, and 7 copies per minute. The price to own this rather monstrous piece of machinery that rendered Xerox the Apple of its time was $27,500.
How things change. Not only is Xerox a monument to past innovation, copiers are much faster and cheaper today. The purchase of most any laser printer gets the buyer not just a printer, but a color copier. As opposed to $27,500 (most eventually rented for $25/month, 10 cents per copy), color printers with copying capabilities that surely exceed the speed of the 914 set the buyer back somewhere in the range of a few hundred dollars, and they weigh a small fraction of 650 pounds.
Read Full Article »
