Tandy/Radio Shack Advert - November 1977
From Byte - The Small Systems Journal
The first complete, low-cost microcomputer system for business, home or education - TRS-80
Technically, it wasn't - the Commodore PET was launched several months before the TRS-80 at the January Consumer Electronics Show and as such was the first of the "1997 Trinity" (which also included the Apple II) to be revealed to the public.
However, the TRS-80, or "Trash 80", launched in August, was the first to market and the first to retail in significant numbers and proved quite popular, selling over 100,000 units in its lifetime.
It was Z80 based and had 4K memory as standard, and retailed for $600, or about £3,460 in 2024 terms, making it cheap compared to the Commodore PET and the Apple II.
Tandy was a bit like Commodore and Nokia in that it started out as a company doing something completely different - in Tandy's case as a leather goods manufacturer in 1919[1].
This compared to Commodore's 1954 start as a typewriter repair outfit or Nokia's 1865 start as a paper and rubber boots producer[2].
An advert for Tandy/Radio Shack's Realistic-branded TRC-55 CB radio - available for $99.95, or about £700 in 2024
Tandy - with its large chain of Radio Shack outlets in the US - was already well-known as a provider of consumer electronics such as CB radios.
The computer part of Tandy was sold off in 1993, a year before Commodore filed for bankruptcy, and the name disappeared completely in 2000.
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.
