Both the Apple and low end computers will benefit if we run articles on ways for businesses (and even homes or schools) to hook some midget computers such as the Timex or VTCs together into a network using an Apple host.
As you may be aware, the sale of Timex computers has dropped disastrously in recent months. This is partly due to the fierce price competition from better systems such as the VIC, Atari and T.I. and partly due to the rising chorus of frustrated Timex users who are telling friends not to waste their money.
The Timex people made some very serious marketing errors. Oh, they got the 1000 into tens of thousands of retailers and sold thousands by mail order. But selling a system to Middle America is a different ball game.
Surveys of new gadget sales show rather clearly that there is a hard core of people who go for new things. But before a true fad can develop, this vanguard has to be enthused enough to get the message to the second wave. In the case of the Timex, the first wave became discouraged with the quality of the product, with the poverty of software available and with the almost total lack of information on how to cope with it.
It’s a bit late to save Timex. Their problems are probably beyond salvage. But with some articles on using these inexpensive midgets, we may at least be able to take advantage of them while they are still around. So let’s see some work on it.