14 June 1951: UNIVAC I goes to work for the Census Bureau

On June 14, 1951 the US Census Bureau formally dedicated UNIVAC I, the first commercial computer produced in the United States, built by Remington Rand. A year later, CBS used UNIVAC to predict Eisenhower's landslide on election night. Remington Rand had the early lead, but IBM's sales force and customer relationships soon took over the computer market, a lesson in how a technical lead can slip away.

The lesson: Being first with a technology matters less than building the sales and service to keep customers.