How PCQ led to the Personal Computer Revolution in India

By Pradeep Gupta, Chairman & MD, CyberMedia Group

Let me give you a very brief history of how this product (PCQuest) came about. In 1982, we started Dataquest. The question I was asked at that time was: A magazine for Information Technology? Because Information Technology was a fledgling industry, worth less than Rs 100 crores.

The same question got asked to me when we announced in 1986 that we were coming out with a personal computer magazine. Two products for Information Technology from the same media house? It doesn’t make sense! At that time terms like B2B and B2C had not been invented. Otherwise, it would have been very easy for me to convey to everybody that one was a B2-B product, and the other one was B2C.

That was the time when PCs had just come about in the world 1981-82. They started becoming big in 1982-83. In India, the first PC came I think in early 1985. The total installed base of PCs was just 20,000 when we decided to start a PC magazine. We felt that this was something which was going to become very big, and we have been proved right. Today more than 20,000 PCs get sold every day. A huge transformation has taken place in the PC ecosystem marketplace.

When it all began, we made sure that we talked to the end-users. We looked at what were the tips, tricks, and traps of the entire PC market. We had content like “How do you assemble a PC?” PCQuest was a product that led to the PC revolution in this country.

If you talk to the youngsters of the 1980s and 1990s, most of them would say that it was PCQuest which was the tool that they used in terms of learning about the entire PC market; in terms of exposure to the PC; in terms of using the PC for their benefit. It also had a great impact on the SME and enterprise market in terms of bringing office productivity via the desktop. Therefore 35 years become a very special occasion for all of us.

We have been doing continuous innovation. After the PC we realized that there many Indian products were coming out and they needed to be analyzed and compared. Therefore, we set up PCQuest Labs, which was an instant success. That’s because PCQuest tested products in dusty Indian conditions where the telephone lines were bad, connectivity was poor, and so on. That’s why our reviews were of great value to Indian users.

We were the first in India to come out with a CD on the jacket of a magazine (first in Asia I think). We became the market maker for CDs in India. We came out with many changes and many innovations to ensure that the Indian users were getting their dose of technology in an easy, readable, and friendly manner.

I am very happy that we are celebrating our 35 years. Now, we are at another critical moment. In the next 15 years, Deep Tech is going to change each and every aspect of human life. It will change each and every business. It will change each and every social fabric. It will change the way we work. The world that would be 15 years hence is something we cannot even imagine. This will be brought about by technologies such as AI, ML, AR, MR, blockchain, IoT, and 5G. The role that PCQuest will play in the next 15 years is indeed going to be a defining one for the usage of technology.

I look forward to interacting with you when we celebrate our 50th anniversary in a different form altogether because I am sure at that time, we will have a different kind of technology.

When we launched this product, it was through the pages of a magazine. Today I am communicating with you through a video (Catch this complete video address at the PCQuest YouTube channel). 15 years later it will be in a different format.

Enjoy all these pieces that we have put together over the last 35 years along with different videos of people who have been stalwarts of the entire IT industry and get a real flavor of the past.

This is part of our PCQuest 35 Years Series on the Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow of Technology.