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

[anoneds@netscape.net (Ben Yates)]

"Bo Zimmerman" <bo@zimmers.net> wrote in message news:<bdia61$tg3ja$1@ID-149169.news.dfncis.de>...
> > Actually, the crash was the following year, 1984.
> >
> > TI pulled the 99/4a because they were losing huge wads of cash on the
> > machine, selling it far below it's value, hoping to make it all back on
> > the PE BOX and the various things to stuff into it. Then, the straw that
> > broke the camel's back: The Coleco ADAM was announced in the spring of
> > 1983. $600 for a 64K (80K with video RAM - compare the 99/4a which ONLY
> > had the 16K of video RAM!), a fast reliable random access tape system,
> > and a letter quality daisy wheel printer with included word processing
> > software. TI couldn't compete. Coleco hoped that no one could. But
> > Coleco released it before the engineers were finished making the thing
> > work reliably. Death to two systems.
> >
> > Roy
> 
> The mere annoucement of the Coleco ADAM caused the death of TI (and others no
> doubt) in 1984.
> 
> Hmm.. well, we Commodore users surely thank God daily for Coleco's mercy on us
> during that time.
> 
> - Bo
> (Peddle is God, and Tramiel is his propheteer)


No, firstly the crash STARTED in 1983. Christmas sales that year were
dismal.

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...
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.
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.
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.

Ben