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The first UNIVAC (UNIVersal Automatic Computer) built was sold at a dramatic loss for the Remington Rand company to the US Census Bureau for the agreed contract price of $159,000. The second and third UNIVACs built were sold at the same dramatic loss for the Remington Rand company to the US Air Force and the US Army Map Service respectively for the same agreed contract price.

I cannot find figures, but a reasonable guess might be that the cost to build each UNIVAC system was between $250,000 and $500,000 for Remington Rand.

To recover these losses and make a profit on later UNIVACs built Remington Rand raised the price on each subsequent system, until the price stabilized at just below $2,000,000 which paid for both building the machine and a reasonable profit (which shows how badly wrong Eckert and Mauchly were at cost estimates when they negotiated the original sales contracts for UNIVAC, they made a similar error on ENIAC's costs back in WW2 estimating $50,000 when the finished ENIAC cost $500,000 the only thing that saved the project was the ENIAC contract was written as a "cost plus fixed fee" contract instead of a "fixed price" contract as UNIVAC's contracts were written).

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When was the UNIVAC computer made?

On March 31, 1951, the Census Bureau accepted delivery of the first UNIVAC computer. The final cost of constructing the first UNIVAC was close to one million dollars. Forty-six UNIVAC computers were built for both government and business uses.


How much did he first desktop computer cost?

The first computers had no fixed selling price. They were usually built on cost plus fixed fee contracts, because the people making them could not guess at final cost to build them. For example the ENIAC was estimated at $50,000 when the Army signed the cost plus contract. The Army eventually payed a bit more than $500,000. The UNIVAC I original fixed price contracts were for $250,000 but when the machine went into production its actual price was $2,500,000. Remington Rand lost lots of money on the first two UNIVAC's sold as the company had to pay the difference between cost to build and what the customer payed!


How much did the UNIVAC 1 cost?

The UNIVAC 1, which was the first commercially produced computer in the United States, cost around $1.25 million in the early 1950s. Adjusted for inflation, this would be equivalent to roughly $12 million in today's currency. The high cost of the UNIVAC 1 made it prohibitive for many organizations, but its groundbreaking technology paved the way for the modern computer era.


Why was the Eckert and Mauchly Computer Corporation formed?

To make money selling computers. They were very bad at that because they usually set the sale price in the contract at about 1/10th what it ultimately cost to build. If Remington Rand had not bought them out, they would have gone bankrupt without delivering a single UNIVAC.


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Related Questions

How did the printer that came with the first UNIVAC system cost?

The printer was approximately $19.99 but remember prices were low those days!!


When was the UNIVAC computer made?

On March 31, 1951, the Census Bureau accepted delivery of the first UNIVAC computer. The final cost of constructing the first UNIVAC was close to one million dollars. Forty-six UNIVAC computers were built for both government and business uses.


What year was the first computer sold?

In the US the first UNIVAC I was sold to the Census Bureau for about 1/10 of what it cost to build, in 1951. Prior to this computers were not "sold" as products, but built as one of a kind machines on "cost + fixed fee" contracts.


How much did the printer that came with the first UNIVAC system cost?

The printer was approximately $19.99 but remember prices were low those days!!


How much did the printer that came with the first UNIVAC system coast?

Oh, that's a happy little question! The printer that came with the first UNIVAC system cost around $61,000 back in the 1950s. Can you imagine the joy it brought to those early computer users? Just remember, mistakes are just happy accidents waiting to be fixed!


How much did he first desktop computer cost?

The first computers had no fixed selling price. They were usually built on cost plus fixed fee contracts, because the people making them could not guess at final cost to build them. For example the ENIAC was estimated at $50,000 when the Army signed the cost plus contract. The Army eventually payed a bit more than $500,000. The UNIVAC I original fixed price contracts were for $250,000 but when the machine went into production its actual price was $2,500,000. Remington Rand lost lots of money on the first two UNIVAC's sold as the company had to pay the difference between cost to build and what the customer payed!


How much did the UNIVAC 1 cost?

The UNIVAC 1, which was the first commercially produced computer in the United States, cost around $1.25 million in the early 1950s. Adjusted for inflation, this would be equivalent to roughly $12 million in today's currency. The high cost of the UNIVAC 1 made it prohibitive for many organizations, but its groundbreaking technology paved the way for the modern computer era.


How much does each computer cost?

That depends on the computer. I have seen prices for different machines that varied from as little as $35 to as high as several tens of millions of dollars.The first electronic digital computer, the ABC, was built in 1942 for roughly $6000.The first programmable electronic digital computers, the Colossus machines, were built between 1944 and 1945. This project was classified and it does not appear that costs have yet been released.The ENIAC cost $500,000.The UNIVAC I computers cost over $2,000,000 each to build but the first one was sold in 1951 at a loss for $250,000 because that was the price in the contract. The official selling price of a UNIVAC I system soon rose to about $2,500,000 in order to make some profit.Cray-1™ system S/N 1 was installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1976 for $8.8 million.etc.


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How much did it cost to build Disneyland Florida?

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What is the advantage and disadvantage of univac?

The UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) was one of the first commercially available computers, which revolutionized data processing and computing in the early 1950s. An advantage of UNIVAC was its ability to perform complex calculations and handle large volumes of data efficiently, making it a pivotal tool for businesses and government agencies. However, a disadvantage was its high cost and large physical size, which limited accessibility for smaller organizations and required significant infrastructure to support its operation.


What cost system first traces cost to activities and then to products?

Job cost