Posted By
JamesC
on 2001-10-08
|  To replace the VIC-20...
The Vic-20 came out in '82, the 64 in '83.... the 64 was wildly popular but the VIC-20 continued to sell in decent quantities. The PET/CBM line was still being sold to schools also.
With the 264 series, the intent was to bring Commodore back into the 'business' part of the computer business. The C16 was the low end for schools, so that there would be an affordable student-to-computer ratio. The 232 existed in a very low quantity (rumored from 50 to 300) as a trial production run. The 264 (later renamed the Plus/4) was the machine bundled with software in ROM, and the 364 (only one actual unit produced, plus a few demonstrator mockups) added a numeric keypad and speech synthesis.
It is my opinion that the C16 existed for 2 reasons: 1) a cheap computer that would enable schools to teach Commodore programming (to expand the desire of parents to buy a Plus/4 for their kids), and 2) for a cheap computer to compete with Timex/Sinclair, Atari, etc. Since the case was almost identical to the C64 and VIC-20, there was a cost savings in dedicating one of those molds to C16 case production as opposed to creating new molds similar to the Plus/4. (I'm in the US, I don't know why the C116 was introduced by CBM Germany.)
When the 264 series was cancelled, the VIC had already been discontinued, and the price of the C64 was lowered to better compete with the $100-$200 machines. The 128 was introduced to fill the $300-$500 market segment.
I know this was a lengthy response, but there are a lot of C16 and Plus/4 users out there that don't know the history of their machine!
James C.
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