Big ad campaign spurs sales of world’s cheapest computer

Spurred by a big national advertising campaign, sales of the Time Sinclair 1000 personal computer have taken off. Although Timex will not say just how many of the little $99.95 machines it has sold so far, a spokesman revealed that Timex manufacturing plants are now producing one computer every ten seconds, and production has still not caught up with demand. In addition to its manufacturing plant in Dundee, Scotland, Time has opened two new factories in the U.S. and is scouting around for a suitable location for a fourth plant in the northwestern U.S.

Dan Ross, Timex’s vice-president in charge of the computer group, made this understatement: the “response to our advertising has been fairly substantial.” The TV and print ads that ran in national magazines in September provided a toll-free phone number for customers to call; at one point, Timex operators were receiving 5200 calls per hour. The microcomputer is basically an upgraded ZX81 microcomputer with 2K of memory instead of the ZX81’s 1K. Both machines use the same four-chip design and a Z80A microprocessor, and both feature a membrane-type 40-key keyboard that uses each key for more than one function.

The original ZX81 micro was developed by British inventor Clive Sinclair. More than 500,000 units were sold by mail before Sinclair struck a deal with Timex, the 125-year-old American manufacturing firm known mostly for selling wristwatches. As part of the agreement, Timex received rights to all Sinclair computer technology. Soon afterwards, Timex announced the new Timex Sinclair 1000.

Ross said the firm plans to follow up its first ad campaign with another media blitz beginning late in October. We’re absolutely delighted,” he said. “The sales have just been phenomenal.”

Ross said that Timex will have its promised thermal printer for the Timex Sinclair 1000 on the market this December, and a modem will be available in January of next year. The two peripherals will cost S99.95 each.

Timex is not the only firm selling add-ons for its machine. Ross said that between 600 and 700 companies that are offering add-ons for the Time Sinclair micro have sprung up. Many offer memory boards and other hardware products, but most reflect what Ross called a “tremendous software cottage industry providing software for the machine.”