Posted By
JamesD
on 2006-08-14
13:25:42
|  Re: Missed opportunities with the Plus 4
The 116 was intended to compete with the Sinclair Spectrum (I saw the video too) even though what he had was a 1000.
This brings up some very important things about the American market.
In the early 8bit days you could go out and get a buyers guide that would tell you what to look for in a computer and what to look out for.
One of the first items on the list is a "real keyboard" and almost all manufacturers didn't understand that until after they tried to market a "toy" one.
At least 16K of RAM and expandability to at least 32K or 48K which eventually became 64K/128K.
We want to plug in new hardware to do new things. Expansion ports are good.
We want color! We see in color and like games in color. B/W is ok for business but then the computer has to look like a business computer.
Sound, we play games and we like sound even if it's crappy Apple II sound.
Disk drives. We can't all afford them but we want them so it must be an option.
Image is important. We want something that looks like a real computer and not just a toy. The real keyboard is as important here as it is for typing.
Basic, you must have some sort of "standard" Microsoft Basic.
There must be pleanty of software. If it is going to serve as a game machine it must have disks or carts because tape is too slow.
Now then, the Timex Sinclair 1000 was $50 but Americans hated it. It looked like a toy, worst keyboard ever, didn't have enough RAM, the RAM expansion was flaky, not even an on/off switch, it had B/W video, no sound, you couldn't touch type, the graphics were crappy, the Basic was minimal, you couldn't enter Basic commands without looking for the single key entry for them and the 50% failure rate didn't help. They tried to revamp it and the 1500 was the result but nothing that mattered to the consumer had really changed. I think it ended up selling just as cheap as the 1000 but initially it was more. It didn't go over any better than the 1000.
I think the Spectrum would have fared better than the 1000/1500 but if you look at the last Timex Sinclair model you'll notice they were starting to figure out the American market. Larger/better key board, better expandability, game cart port, sound chip, more RAM... you get the idea.
Which brings us to the 116/264/Plus 4. The 116 was color, had 16K, sound, disk drives and a larger keyboard but it would have suffered from some very important things. Lack of expandability, a "toy" rubbery keyboard and it doesn't look like a "real" computer to the American consumer. Chicklet and rubbery keyboards were about gone by this time in the USA. People would pay an extra $10-$20 for a real keyboard.
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.
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