Wang 720C

The Wang 700-series calculators were the high-point of Wang Laboratories' electronic calculators. After releasing the 700-series, updated versions of the architecture were created; the business-oriented 600-series calculators, and the 'low-cost' scientific alternative to the expensive 700-series machines, the 500-series. As the 1970's progressed, the calculator business changed dramatically with the advent of LSI (Large Scale Integration) integrated circuits. LSI chipsets condensed the entire functionality of a scientific calculator down to a few IC packages. Handheld calculators were becoming prolific, and margins in the calculator business were dwindling. Dr. Wang realized that his company could not make itself a force in the semiconductor business soon enough to make a difference, and that, as LSI technology took over, his calculator business would be at the mercy of the chipmakers. So, he decided to gradually phase Wang Labs out of the calculator business, concentrating the resources of the company on word processing and small business computer systems. Wang continued to sell the 700-series calculators and their predecessors into the late 1970's, but by that point, handheld calculator technology could replace much if not all of the functionality of such desktop behemoths.