Tandy 1000
Tandy 1000 EX's size was a little bigger than that of a household cat.
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| Type | Personal Computer |
|---|---|
| Release date | November 1984 |
| Introductory price | US$1,200 (equivalent to $2,766 in 2016) |
| Discontinued | yes |
The Tandy 1000 was the first in a line of more-or-less IBM PC compatible home computer systems produced by the Tandy Corporation for sale in its RadioShack chain of stores.
In December 1983 an executive with Tandy Corporation, maker of TRS-80 computers, said about the new IBM PCjr home computer: "I'm sure a lot of people will be coming out with PCjr look-alikes. The market is big."
Released in November 1984, the $1,200 Tandy 1000 was designed as an inexpensive PC clone with enhancements compatible with the PCjr, but with a better keyboard. "How could IBM have made that mistake with the PCjr?" an amazed Tandy executive said regarding its chiclet keyboard, and another claimed that the 1000 "is what the PCjr should have been".
Although the press saw the computer as Tandy, the former personal-computer leader, admitting that it could no longer focus on proprietary products in a market the IBM PC dominated, the 1000 sold more units in the first month than any other Tandy product and by early 1985 was its best-selling computer. The 1000 included joystick ports like the PCjr, and copied its 16-color graphics and 3-voice sound, but not the PCjr ROM cartridge ports. Since IBM discontinued the PCjr soon after the release of the 1000, Tandy quickly removed mentions of the PCjr in its advertising while emphasizing its product's PC compatibility.
Although Tandy initially marketed the 1000 as a business computer like the IBM PC, InfoWorld stated in 1985 that "the unwritten potential for the machine is in the elusive home computer market ... Tandy produced a real home computer". The company claimed that the 1000 was "the first fully IBM PC-compatible computer available for less than $1000". It helped the company obtain a 9.5% share of the US home-computer market in 1986, a year in which Tandy stated that half of its compatibles were purchased for the home. In 1988 CEO John Roach disagreed with Apple counterpart John Sculley's rejection of the home market: "Let him deny it. He's the only other person that's well-represented in the home market, and if he wants to abandon it, it's all right with me." Tandy also gained a significant share of the educational market, which Apple historically had dominated.
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