Re: World-wide 8-bit computer sales (all-time)?

[anoneds@netscape.net (Ben Yates)]

Exegete <millers@noneofyourbusiness.com> wrote in message news:<3EFD13B2.9080000@noneofyourbusiness.com>...
> Ben Yates wrote:
<snip>
> > No, firstly the crash STARTED in 1983. Christmas sales that year were
> > dismal.
> 
> No. 1983 wasn't that bad. 1984 was poor, and by 1985 "orphan" was 
> becoming all too come for 8 bit users.

Overall, 1983 wqas ok, but the crash started at Christmas. Software
releases like Atari's ET finally woke the consumer up to what kind of
crap was being turned out.

> 
> > 
> > Did the Coleco cause TI to pull out? No, the Coleco had a pretty
> > crappy daisy wheel, with a slow "hi-speed" tape unit and a terrible
> > Basic (Applesoft compatible that loaded from tape) without an
> > underlying Apple making it not so compatible. Hey, I have a Coleco, I
> > know...
> 
> I have one too. Actually several. I bought my first in 1986. As poor as 
> the daisy wheel was, it was far better than most dot matrix printers of 
> the time (at least the ones attached to C-64s, CoCos, etc.

I have ads for daisy-wheels from Triton Products where I could get a
Daisy wheel for $100...

> 
> The tape unit was slow - compared to anyone's disk drive, but far faster 
> than nearly anyone else's tape units, and far more reliable (once the 
> bugs were worked out)
> 
> Byte thought the SmartBASIC was one of the best BASICs, and certainly 
> the fastest for any 8 bit machine. It was code compatible with 
> AppleSoft, but that was excluding peek and poke locations.

Applesoft sucks compared to the better Basics of the day.

> 
> Again, as you point out - TI was losing millions on the 99/4a. It wasn't 
> so much the ADAM, as the *bundle* and the price that made TI realize 
> they would never get the 99/4a market to make any money. They could 
> never had delivered for c. $600 what Coleco and Atari promised (esp. 
> after Atari released the 800XL) so they would never recover what they 
> lost with the basic machine.

I'll reply below the price list that follows...
> 
> > TI had already lost money from the start, when the 9985 failed to be
> > produced so they were required to use the 9900 with static ram to
> > replace the 9985's on-board 256 byte cache. Then they had to add a 16
> > to 8 bit multiplexer.
> 
> The TI 99 used the 9900 from the 70's. And the 9900 was designed to use 
> either 8 or 16 bit memory.

The TI had a 16-bit databus, it was _not_ designed for 8-bit memories
without a multiplexer circuit.

> 
> > And the original price of about $1150 included a monitor (TV), it
> > dropped to around $500 when they got approval for the TV modulator.
> > TI's tactic of selling you the console cheap and hoping you will add
> > on more expensive peripherals isn't unlike the telecom industry of
> > today. Sign-up for a 1 or 2 year contract, you get a free phone. They
> > just didn't realize how cheap (oops, I mean frugal) TI users were/are.
> > I bought my TI in 1982 for $300, in '83 they were going for half that.
> > $600 for 64k would have been too much. For about $200 in 1983, I added
> > the P-box with 32k and disk drive & controller. I also got a free
> > speech unit for buying some game carts I already wanted. So, in '83
> > you could have a TI system with 32k + 16k video ram (48k) + disk drive
> > + speech for a mere $350, almost half of a Coleco that had a
> > "hi-speed" tape unit.
> 
> All prices quoted from Consumer's Reports, September 1983
> 
> TI 99/4a    $100
> PE Box      $250
> 32K card    $300
> Total       $650

And you would buy a product without taking advantage of product
promotions?
Ok, take your report of a $100 TI. I got a P-box package for $200
containing the 32k card with the disk drive and controller that summer
as part of a nationwide promotion where you buy the box and get your
choice of two cards free (choose from disk controller, 32k or RS232).
$100 for RS232 card (serial/parallel). $100 for Daisy wheel.
$500 for the full package.
TI-Writer versions could be had for free in 1983 (TK-Writer)...
> 
> No parallel or serial card
> No printer
> No word processing software
> 
> C-64        $200
> Disk drive  $399
> Total       $599
> 
> Atari 800   $300
> Disk drive  $450
> Total       $750
> 
> CR October 1984
> 
> Atari 800XL $200
> Disk drive  $350
> Printer     $297
> Total       $847
> 
> C-64        $250
> disk drive  $275
> printer     $250 (Commodore 1525)
> Total       $775
> 
> As you can see, TI could never have put together a system with printer 
> and interface for anywhere near what Coleco, Commodore and Atari did.

> 
> 
> > And if they hadn't pulled the unit, a hex-bus interface was being
> > released to allow you to add TI's own "hi-speed" tape unit, and
> > cheaper peripherals.
> 
> And if bulls had tits that wouldn't make them cows.

The hexbus peripherals _were_ released for the CC-40. The hexbus
interface was already prototyped and ready to release.

Ben