Hidden in plain sight : QWERTY, the search for optimality and IP complementarity
Galbraith, Craig S. and Kay, Neil (2025) Hidden in plain sight : QWERTY, the search for optimality and IP complementarity. Business History. pp. 1-23. ISSN 0007-6791 (https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2025.2458052)
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Abstract
The evolution of the QWERTY keyboard layout has been the subject of much debate. Prior discussions of QWERTY, however, have largely focused on engineering issues, while often ignoring the key competitive and intellectual property strategies surrounding the design. We argue that the keyboard layout QWERTY was a consequence of entrepreneurial mindfulness combined with a creative design rather than an accident of history. This paper also shows how complementarities in intellectual property rights protection played an integral role in the early development of QWERTY and helped to effectively conceal the source of the efficiency advantages that QWERTY delivered at the time. Finally, we suggest possible arguments why the QWERTY standard has continued into the modern age separate from a path dependence argument. This further serves to raise serious questions over QWERTY’s forced servitude as ‘paradigm case’ of inferior standard in the path dependence literature.
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Item type: Article ID code: 92487 Dates: DateEvent5 February 2025Published5 February 2025Published Online20 January 2025Accepted25 February 2024SubmittedSubjects: Social Sciences > Commerce > Business Department: Strathclyde Business School > Economics Depositing user: Pure Administrator Date deposited: 28 Mar 2025 15:29 Last modified: 01 Apr 2025 16:23 Related URLs: URI: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/92487