Along with the birth of the Internet, the ATM machine also made its US debut 40 years ago tomorrow in a branch of Chemical Bank (now Chase) in Rockville Centre, N.Y.
(The world's first ATM machine was installed in late June of 1967 in a branch of Barclays Bank in Enfield, north London.)
Today, there are some 1.7 million ATMs world-wide, including some in South Africa that will pepper spray you if it thinks you are trying to blow it up.
According to this story at WXII12.com, that while Chemical Bank customers seemed to like the ATM,
"... Chemical Bank managers weren't initially enthralled. 'If this new service proves to be of sufficient interest and benefit to our customers, additional installations will be made at other offices,' they noted coolly in 1969's annual report."
However, management seems to have kept its reservations to itself, as it advertised the new ATM this way:
"On September 2, 1969, our branch will open its doors at 9:00 a.m. and we'll never close again!"
Robert N. Charette is a Contributing Editor to IEEE Spectrum and an acknowledged international authority on information technology and systems risk management. A self-described “risk ecologist,” he is interested in the intersections of business, political, technological, and societal risks. Charette is an award-winning author of multiple books and numerous articles on the subjects of risk management, project and program management, innovation, and entrepreneurship. A Life Senior Member of the IEEE, Charette was a recipient of the IEEE Computer Society’s Golden Core Award in 2008.
