Apple Advert - 1981
From Sunday Telegraph
Apple II: The Managing Director's Personal Computer
It's another advert for the Apple II, the 6502-based computer that might not have made it - as it was over twice the price of its compatriots - had it not been for the advent of VisiCalc.
Apple's price of "as little as £1,700" as mentioned in the advert is about £8,780 in 2024 money, whilst the equivalent Commodore PET of the day was about £700, or £3,610 now.
The idea that software is at least as important as the hardware had become well-established by this time, with the advert mentioning financials, planning, word processing and the like, but it was VisiCalc that defined it, as it was the first "killer app" that sold a computer, rather than the other way around.
And although this advert actually doesn't make the claim, many other Apple adverts of the time did: that Apple was the "best-selling micro in the UK".
Actually, in 1982, BIS-Pedder (as reported in Personal Computer World's October 1982 issue[1]) published its annual Census of Information Systems in which it summarised the top ten micros by units sold in the UK:
Sinclair - 43.3%
Commodore - 8.8%
Acorn - 6.7 %
Nascom/Lucas - 6.6%
Apple - 5.7%
Lowe/Video Genie - 4.6%
Sharp - 4.4%
Tangerine - 2.6%
Tandy/Radio Shack - 2.4%.
Date created: 01 July 2012
Sources
Text and otherwise-uncredited photos © nosher.net 2024. Dollar/GBP conversions, where used, assume $1.50 to £1. "Now" prices are calculated dynamically using average RPI per year.
