Posted By
JamesC
on 2006-08-14
22:53:39
|  Re: Missed opportunities with the Plus 4
Now then, the 264 adds a REAL keyboard, pleanty of RAM (esp from BASIC), expandability and it looks kinda cool. If it hadn't been introduced as a business computer but as an entry level machine it wouldn't have been trashed in the press and probably would have been rated a best buy in that category.
It would have competed against the C64 if it were priced the same or less. That's why the C16 was sold, as an entry level machine.... and it sold reasonably well against the Timex Sinclair. The 116 was not offered in North America, but in Europe only.
The point of the Plus/4 being oriented toward business (or home office type) applications was specifically to hit a different market than the other Commodore offerings. It made a good alternative to the PET/CBM line that had recently been dropped. Plus, it gave CBM something different to sell to schools (so that the schools' C64s wouldn't keep going home with students).
I agree that the price was too high compared to the C64. The C64 should have stayed in the low to mid $200 range, and the Plus/4 slightly cheaper ($175-200)... and then the C64 clarified as a deluxe system with advanced sound and movable objects (sprites).
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