Re: Apple II Euromod / Apple II Europlus

[Michael J. Mahon <mjmahon@aol.com>]

Steven Weyhrich <a2history@gmail.com> wrote:
> Additional info that I've dredged up indicates that Apple formed a
> separate company called Eurapple, Inc. in 1977, not long after the
> original Apple II came out. It was managed by Andre Sousan, who used to
> work with Commodore (he actually came with Chuck Peddle to visit The
> Garage where they were assembling the Apple-1). Eurapple was responsible
> for overseas distribution of the Apple II.
> 
> Unfortunately, that's as far as I can discover things. What I've not been
> able to find out is why Apple chose to license out the Apple II to ITT
> for creation of the ITT 2020 (sold in the UK through Microsense, but also
> sold in France and elsewhere in Europe), when they were also creating
> their own Apple-branded Apple II (the Euromod and later the Europlus)? It
> does appear that the ITT 2020 and the Euromod became available at about the same time. 
> 
> In other words, why allow creation of the ITT 2020, when the Euromod was
> available then or soon after? Why bother with the Euromod when the ITT 2020 was available?

The answer is almost always channels--distribution relationships that
broaden the market for a product when it is available from a particular
supplier. 

Compare with Apple's licensing deal with Bell & Howell in the US. 

-michael - NadaNet 3.1 and AppleCrate II: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon