INDIANAPOLIS — Billed as the first online computer system for the family of the 90s, Prodigy promised to connect Hoosiers of all ages to the World Wide Web.
Prodigy, a joint venture between IBM and Sears, aimed to simplify online navigation.
“We’ve made the Prodigy service as simple to use as is possible on a computer,” a spokesperson told WRTV’s Gerry Dick. “If I simply hit one key, I can direct the service to do what I want.”
Things like shopping, paying bills, and even trading stocks were all possible thanks to Prodigy. While many of the program's 800+ features were geared toward adults, Prodigy was marketed as a program for the entire family including games and educational challenges. All for an initial startup fee of $40.
What’s more, Prodigy charged a simple monthly fee of $9.95. At the time, competitors typically charged a fee by the minute. However, the low rate only applied to Hoosiers living in the immediate Indianapolis area. Hoosiers outside of this vicinity would be charged long-distance fees to connect to the service.
Prodigy said it hoped to capture some of the 70,000 Hoosier households that had computers in 1990.
