Which of these was made by Applied Technology, MicroBee or Timex Sinclair?
Timex Sinclair Timex Sinclair was a joint venture between the British company Sinclair Research and Timex Corporation in an effort to gain an entry into the rapidly growing early-1980s home computer market in North America. The choice of partnership was natural, as Timex was already the main contractor for manufacture of Sinclair's ZX81 and ZX Spectrum computers at its Scottish plant in Dundee. It was Timex of Portugal, though, that took on the R&D and the local manufacturing of the models to be exported to the U.S. Although both Timex of Scotland and Timex of Portugal were full subsidiaries of Timex, internal rivalry, whether unintended or purported, meant there was little sharing between the two plants. Timex of Portugal also sold the Timex Sinclair models in Portugal and Poland under the Timex Computer brand.
Timex Sinclair 1000 The Timex Sinclair 1000 (TS1000) was the first computer produced by Timex Sinclair, a joint venture between Timex Corporation and Sinclair Research. It was launched in July 1982, with a US sales price of US$99.95, making it the cheapest home computer to date; it was advertised as "the first computer under $100". The computer was aimed at regular home users. Unlike earlier computers aimed at home users, the TS1000 was not a kit which had to be soldered and assembled. As purchased, the TS1000 was fully assembled and ready to be plugged into the users' home TV (which served as a video monitor). The TS1000 was a slightly-modified version of the Sinclair ZX81 with an NTSC RF modulator, designed for use with North American TVs, instead of the UK PAL RF modulator which was used for units sold in Portugal. The TS1000 doubled the onboard RAM from 1 KB to 2 KB. The TS1000's casing had slightly more internal shielding but remained the same as Sinclair's, including the membrane keyboard. It had black-and-white graphics and no sound. It was followed by an improved version, the Timex Sinclair 1500 which had substantially more RAM (16 KB) and a lower price (US$80). However, the TS1500 did not achieve market success, given that the marketplace was by this time dominated by Commodore, RadioShack, Atari and Apple.