Word: timex
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...Americans have plunked down hundreds, even thousands of dollars apiece for computers that turned out to be high-tech white elephants. Owners of low-cost home computers have been particularly hard hit. Among them, they have 2 million Texas Instruments 99/ 4As, 1 million Commodore VIC 20s, 700,000 Timex Sinclair 1000s, 200,000 Coleco Adams, 135,000 Franklin Aces and now at least 250,000 IBM PCjrs--all of them orphans...
...some ways, people with machines orphaned by IBM are better off than those who bought from firms that filed for bankruptcy (such as Franklin, Gavilan, Osborne and Victor) or simply quit the computer field (Coleco, Mattel, Timex). IBM's higher-priced models are still enormously successful, which ensures a steady stream of IBM compatible software, some of which will run on the PCjr. Moreover, the giant company has promised to continue to provide parts and service "as long as the product is around...
...orphan computers end up in the closet because people don't know what to do with them," says Susan Mahoney, who directs a Timex Sinclair User Group out of her home in Waterbury, Conn. Her 600-member organization, one of 100 such U.S. chapters devoted to Timex alone, helps bring those computers back out of the closet. The Timex groups exchange newsletters, sponsor joint meetings and cooperate in finding spare parts...
...wake of IBM's decision, questions arose once again about the future of the highly competitive home-computer field. The PCjr is only the latest machine headed for a home-computer graveyard crowded with models from such companies as Coleco, Timex and Mattel. The industry has suffered from fierce price competition, rapid product obsolescence and shifting consumer tastes...
...largest home-computer makers have left that part of the business after losing millions of dollars. Texas Instruments quit, following an orgy of price cutting that saw its 99/4A computer, which had once sold for more than $1,000, fall to as little as $49. In February, Timex shut down when the sales of its machines that first sold for just $99 collapsed...