The story
In reference to the Osborne Computer Corporation, a company that took more than a year to make its next product available, and eventually went bankrupt in 1983.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Osborne effect
Today it means: The phenomenon whereby the premature announcement of a new product leads customers to cancel or defer orders for the existing product, since it will soon become obsolete. Full definition →