An American perspective on the late great Sir Clive Sinclair, from Fast Company

[Fred Cisin]

> My girlfriend commented to me that Americans don't understand London"s 
> Fleet Street scene of the 70's and early 80s and how Sinclair products 
> were represented there.  In the US the "Timex Sinclair TS-1000" was a 
> budget $99 computer for sale in Hallmark gift stores and its marketing 
> represented little of the fleet Street cache.

They rarely even made it into stores.  They were more of a magazine ad for 
"Real computer for $49.95"  (which was about 25 pounds at the time)
If they made it into stores, they might have ended up hanging on a peg 
next to a blister pack of half a dozen rubber wedge doorstops.


I think that it is truly tragic about the price gouging.
A number of people have commented that computers were sold as if the 
exchange rate was 1:1!  A computer that sold for $1000 
would be sold in UK for 1000 GBP! (the equivalent of $3000) 
As soon as they came out, I bought a TRS80 for $400 (it would have been 
$600 if I didn't already have a CCTV composite monitor and a tape 
recorder).  How much did the TRS80 sell for in UK?

So, in USA, you had arguments between $600 TRS80 and $600 Commodore PET, 
with the wealthier kids buying Apple.

When the IBM PC (5150) came out in August 1981, it was less that $2000, if 
you supplied your own RAM, floppy drives, and monitor.  (~$1300 + CGA + 
FDC)

They were in the price range of a cheap used car.


--
Grumpy Ol' Fred     		cisin at xenosoft.com