Mainframe Computers That Change With the Times - NYTimes.com

Price point erosion for the ultimate monopoly computing market segment

"While the mainframe may be an enduring stalwart, the changes that come in this machine show how much the world has changed too, and probably not in a way that I.B.M. likes.
Most notably, the new machine, with the attractive name zEnterprise BC12, costs $75,000. That is a price cut of about 25 percent from the last model in this series of mainframes. To add more perspective, 10 years ago, before the zEnterprise series was around, Big Blue proudly launched a model called the Z990, or T-Rex, that started at $1 million. Prices went way up from there."

Mainframe Computers That Change With the Times - NYTimes.com