Media File: 1982
Sinclair in the News

The New York Times
April 21, 1982

Timex Plans Computer To Retail At About $100

By SUSAN C. FALUDI

The Timex Computer Corporation, an affiliate of the company that introduced the world's first inexpensive wristwatch, yesterday introduced the first personal computer to retail at around $100.

The Timex Sinclair 1000, with a suggested retail price of $99.95, will go on sale in July and be aimed at the first-time computer customer and the educational market, two areas that have not yet been well tapped, industry analysts said.

The computer is a four-chip design that connects to any television screen, is only 6 by 6½ by 1½ inches, weighs 12 ounces and has its own keyboard. The device is a slightly improved version of one of the world's best-selling personal computers, the Sinclair ZX81. Timex currently manufactures the ZX81 in Dundee, Scotland, under an arrangement with Sinclair Research Ltd. of Cambridge, England, the designer. Sinclair, in turn, distributes it through mail order in the United States at a price of about $150.

The Timex Sinclair 1000 will offer the same features as the ZX81, including cassette-loaded programs. Able to hold 2,000 bits of information, it has twice the memory of the ZX81 and can communicate with other large-scale computers, Daniel D. Ross, vice president of Timex Computer, said.

Timex is apparently counting on sales of the software it will offer to complement the personal computer to offset the lower price of the devices. The software will include business and personal financial management programs as well as education and entertainment programs.

Another element in the lower price is ''economies of scale,'' Mr. Ross said. Timex has a strong maufacturing capability, with 15 plants around the world. ''With the ZX81, we are manufacturing one unit every 10 seconds,'' Mr. Ross said. The ZX81 sold almost half a million units since March 1981, when it first came out.

Timex, under a new arrangement with Sinclair, will market as well as manufacture the personal computers. Sinclair retains its design role but will phase out its mail order business.

The new computer and accompanying software will be distributed through more than 100,000 retail outlets, including department store chains, consumer electronic outlets, jewelry stores and drugstores.

Selling the computers in stores used by the average consumer ''makes an awful lot of sense,'' said Robert Schweich of Wertheim & Company, who follows the industry.

''People don't like to go into computer stores; they are forbidding,'' said Ben Rosen of Rosen Research, who also follows the industry.

Good Penetration Expected

The Sinclair ZX81 ''really opened up a new market that had never been tapped and has probably the greatest potential,'' Mr. Rosen said. By cutting the price to less than $100, Timex should be ''very, very successful'' at continuing to penetrate that market, he added.

James Palmer of Tucker, Anthony, who follows the personal computer industry, said: ''It is a nice cheap razor for the home market. It is one heck of a deal.''

Mr. Ross of Timex Computer estimated that the company could tap a market of 50 million schoolchildren and 90 million households. It plans to market first to the homes and then to the schools, both public and private.

The Timex Sinclair 1000 is the first in a series of ''what should be a family of home computers'' that Timex plans to manufacture and market to homes and schools, Mr. Ross added.

Since the computer is for beginners, it will be no threat to more sophisticated versions put out by Apple and Tandy, analysts said. ''We don't anticipate any price war,'' Mr. Ross said. ''It should instead make more people think seriously about getting involved with computers.''

Mr. Rosen agreed, saying that ''Apple and Tandy will be the beneficiaries of this.'' In addition, many more large electronic and retailing companies that are not in the computer business may start entering it now, encouraged by Timex's move, Mr. Rosen said.