The company's subsequent expansion made it Europe's biggest calculator manufacturer by 1975. By the late 1970s, however, Sinclair Radionics was experiencing serious difficulties.
In an interview with Practical Computing, Sinclair explained: === Precursors: the MK14 and ZX80 === By the late 1970s, American companies were producing simple home computer kits such as the MITS Altair and IMSAI 8080.
The company had stagnated in the 1970s and was looking for ways to revitalise its image and expand its product range. Smith's had begun selling audio and photographic equipment and calculators at the end of the 1970s, with a modest degree of success.
The company entered a new market in 1972 when it launched the first "slimline" pocket calculator, the Sinclair Executive.
This and other disputes led to Sinclair resigning from Radionics in July 1979. While he was struggling with the NEB, Clive Sinclair turned to a "corporate lifeboat" in the shape of an existing corporate shell under his exclusive control – a company called Ablesdeal Ltd, which he had established in 1973 and later renamed Science of Cambridge.
The company's subsequent expansion made it Europe's biggest calculator manufacturer by 1975. By the late 1970s, however, Sinclair Radionics was experiencing serious difficulties.
The company made losses of more than £350,000 in 1975–76, bringing it to the edge of bankruptcy.
In July 1977 Radionics was rescued by a state agency, the National Enterprise Board (NEB), which recapitalised it, provided a loan facility and took effective control of the company by acquiring a 73% stake. Clive Sinclair's relationship with the NEB was fraught due to conflicting notions about which direction the company should go.
New Scientist stated in 1977 that "the price of an American kit in dollars rapidly translates into the same figure in pounds sterling by the time it has reached the shores of Britain".
Sinclair realised that this provided a useful commercial opportunity. Sinclair's first home computer was the MK14, which was launched in kit form in June 1978.
Despite the limitations of the machine it sold a respectable 10–15,000 units; by comparison, the much more expensive Apple II had only sold 9,000 units in the United States, a much bigger market, in 1978.
This and other disputes led to Sinclair resigning from Radionics in July 1979. While he was struggling with the NEB, Clive Sinclair turned to a "corporate lifeboat" in the shape of an existing corporate shell under his exclusive control – a company called Ablesdeal Ltd, which he had established in 1973 and later renamed Science of Cambridge.
Off-the-shelf personal computers were also available for the high end of the market but were extremely expensive; Olivetti's offering cost £2,000, and the Commodore PET, launched in 1979, sold for £700.
Science of Cambridge was producing ZX80s at the rate of 9,000 a month by the end of 1980 and within 18 months of its launch the company had sold 100,000 units.
The company was renamed Sinclair Computers in November 1980, reflecting its new focus, and became Sinclair Research in March 1981. === BBC Micro bid === The launch of the ZX81 was catalysed in part by the British Broadcasting Corporation Computer Literacy Project's plan to produce The Computer Programme TV series, to be broadcast in 1982, aimed at popularising computing and programming.
When Clive Sinclair heard of the project in December 1980, he wrote to the BBC informing them that he would be announcing a new version of the ZX80, to be called the ZX81, in early 1981.
The code was written by John Grant, the owner of Nine Tiles, and Steve Vickers, who had joined the company in January 1980.
It was a well-established manufacturer of mechanical watches but was facing a crisis at the beginning of the 1980s.
Timex took over production of the ZX80 late in 1980.
In 1980 its marketing development manager, John Rowland, hit upon the idea of creating "Computer Know-How" sections in major branches to sell computer books and magazines.
The company's profitability rose enormously, from a pretax profit of £818,000 on a turnover of £4.6 million in 1980–81 to £8.55 million on a turnover of £27.17 million in 1981–82.
It was launched in the United Kingdom in March 1981 as the successor to Sinclair's ZX80 and designed to be a low-cost introduction to home computing for the general public.
Enthusiasts and a variety of third-party companies make use of this facility to create a wide range of add-ons for the ZX81. === Comparisons with other computing devices === The following table provides a comparison between the capabilities of the ZX81 and various other competing microcomputers that were available in June 1981, about the time that the first ZX81 orders were delivered.
The prices given are as of June 1981 from Your Computer UK. NB : Commodore PET includes monitor and cassette recorder.
The company was renamed Sinclair Computers in November 1980, reflecting its new focus, and became Sinclair Research in March 1981. === BBC Micro bid === The launch of the ZX81 was catalysed in part by the British Broadcasting Corporation Computer Literacy Project's plan to produce The Computer Programme TV series, to be broadcast in 1982, aimed at popularising computing and programming.
When Clive Sinclair heard of the project in December 1980, he wrote to the BBC informing them that he would be announcing a new version of the ZX80, to be called the ZX81, in early 1981.
From start to finish, the design process took about six months. The ZX81 was launched on 5 March 1981 in two versions (though with identical components) – a pre-assembled machine or a cheaper kit version, which the user could assemble himself.
It was not until September 1981, five months after the launch of the ZX81, that the delivery times finally came down to the promised twenty-eight days.
Sinclair launched the ZX81 in the United States in November 1981 at a price of $149.95 assembled and $99.95 in kit form, initially selling directly to the American market by mail order.
In December 1981 Mitsui obtained rights to distribute the ZX81 in Japan, selling it by mail order for ¥38,700 (equivalent to £83 in 1982 prices), and had sold 5,000 units by July 1982.
Clive Sinclair told Informatics magazine in June 1981 that "our competitors thought that consumers didn't want to learn programming.
The company's profitability rose enormously, from a pretax profit of £818,000 on a turnover of £4.6 million in 1980–81 to £8.55 million on a turnover of £27.17 million in 1981–82.
Cambridge, England: Sinclair Research (undated, circa March 1981) Sinclair Research advertisement.
Everyday Electronics, April 1981, pp. 284–285 Sinclair Research advertisement.
Retrieved 5 January 2011. == External links == ZX81 The Archive ZX81 Software Downloads Sinclair ZX81 Teardown – a detailed look at the ZX81's hardware Computer-related introductions in 1981 Z80-based home computers Home computers Sinclair computers and derivatives Products introduced in 1981 Computers designed in the United Kingdom Timex Group Goods manufactured in Scotland 1981 establishments in Scotland History of Dundee Economy of Dundee Economic history of Scotland
The company was renamed Sinclair Computers in November 1980, reflecting its new focus, and became Sinclair Research in March 1981. === BBC Micro bid === The launch of the ZX81 was catalysed in part by the British Broadcasting Corporation Computer Literacy Project's plan to produce The Computer Programme TV series, to be broadcast in 1982, aimed at popularising computing and programming.
To Sinclair's dismay, the contract to produce the BBC Micro went to Acorn, which launched the machine in January 1982.
Paul Kriwaczek, the producer of The Computer Programme, explained his reservations in a March 1982 interview with Your Computer: Sinclair was critical of the BBC's decision, accusing it of incompetence and arrogance.
The advantage of his approach is that vacillating customers are drawn into the fold while the product's promotion retains a commercial urgency, and the costings of the competition are thrown into utter disarray." This tactic proved highly successful, with Sinclair announcing by March 1982 that it had sold 250,000 ZX81s worldwide.
When sales fell in the wake of the launch of its successor, the ZX Spectrum, Sinclair reduced the price of the pre-assembled version to £49.95 in May 1982.
Sales of peripherals, software, books and magazines netted even more profit. The British chain stores Boots, John Menzies and Currys began selling the ZX81 as soon as Smith's exclusive distribution deal expired and a number of companies secured overseas distribution rights for the ZX81, which was being sold in 18 countries by March 1982.
Sales reached 15,000 a month by January 1982, while American Express sold thousands more to its own customers.
In February 1982 Timex obtained a licence from Sinclair to sell the ZX81 directly through thousands of retail outlets in the US, paying Sinclair Research a 5 per cent royalty on all Sinclair hardware and software sold by Timex.
By August 1982 Sinclair had lowered the American mail-order price of the assembled ZX81 to $99.95 and kit to $79.95, and its advertisements stated that "more than 10,000 are sold every week".
In December 1981 Mitsui obtained rights to distribute the ZX81 in Japan, selling it by mail order for ¥38,700 (equivalent to £83 in 1982 prices), and had sold 5,000 units by July 1982.
The Japanese market's favourable reaction to the ZX81 led Mitsui to begin selling the ZX81 over the counter in large bookshops from September 1982, with annual sales of 20,000 units predicted.
The people behind the ZX81 cottage industry were very often not computer professionals but were, as the Financial Times noted, "school teachers, civil servants, electrical engineers and technicians [who] have set up small operations in their own time". The ZX81's popularity was publicly demonstrated in January 1982 when civil servant Mike Johnstone organised a "ZX Microfair" at Westminster Central Hall.
The TS1000 was launched in July 1982 and sparked a massive surge of interest; at one point, the Timex phoneline was receiving over 5,000 calls an hour, 50,000 a week, inquiring about the machine or about microcomputers in general.
The Financial Times reported in March 1982 that most Sinclair computers were being bought for educational purposes, both for adults and children, though the children were usually able to learn much more quickly.
Popular Science, October 1982, pp. 284–285 Sinclair ZX81 Home Computer, with "Mapsoft" keyboard attached." McManus Galleries, Dundee.
On a more positive note, Vickers' work on the manual was received favourably, being described in 1983 as "one of the classic texts on BASIC".
Despite the increased competition from much more capable computers, the ZX81 was still shipping in excess of 30,000 units a month even as late as July 1983, more than two years after it had been launched.
In 1983 the government ordered that the ZX81s were to be withdrawn from sale at airports.
There was no such restriction on sales to communist China and in November 1983 Sinclair Research announced that it had signed an agreement to export ZX81 kits to a factory in Guangzhou, where they would be assembled for the Chinese market. == Reception == Reviews of the ZX81 highlighted the great value for money offered by the machine but noted its technical shortcomings.
By August 1983 seven more ZX Microfairs were held, with the 14th ZX Microfair at Alexandra Palace in November 1984, still organised by Johnstone. Thousands of ZX81 programs were published, either as type-in programs or as ready-made applications that could be loaded from cassette tape.
In 1983, EMI released a single by Chris Sievey that had a ZX81 program recorded on the B-side.
In the five months following the TS1000's launch, the company sold 550,000 machines, earning Sinclair over $1.2 million in royalties. Timex produced a second version of the ZX81 in the form of the TS1500, essentially an Americanised ZX81 launched in August 1983.
He received a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours and the Young Businessman of the Year award in 1983. The machine also had a widespread and lasting social impact in the United Kingdom, according to Clive Sinclair, purchasers of the ZX81 came from "a reasonably broad spectrum" that ranged from readers of the upmarket Observer and Sunday Times newspapers to the more downmarket but numerous Sun readers.
By August 1983 seven more ZX Microfairs were held, with the 14th ZX Microfair at Alexandra Palace in November 1984, still organised by Johnstone. Thousands of ZX81 programs were published, either as type-in programs or as ready-made applications that could be loaded from cassette tape.
Its work on the ZX81 database program Vu-File led to Psion switching its focus to the development of personal digital assistants, which resulted in the launch in 1984 of the Psion Organiser, the world's first handheld personal computer.
As he told the Sunday Times in April 1985, "We only got involved in computers in order to fund the rest of the business", specifically the development of the ultimately unsuccessful TV80 pocket television and C5 electric vehicle.
He does, and our information is that a lot of people are using the machines avidly." A New Scientist retrospective published in 1986 commented: High-profile advertising was central to the marketing campaign.
The ZX81 plays a significant part in the plot of William Gibson's 2003 novel Pattern Recognition.
Rick Dickinson, 24 August 2007.
Retrieved 13 January 2011 TK85.
Retrieved 2 January 2011 ZX81DES1.
Retrieved 2 January 2011. Sinclair ZX81.
Retrieved 5 January 2011. == External links == ZX81 The Archive ZX81 Software Downloads Sinclair ZX81 Teardown – a detailed look at the ZX81's hardware Computer-related introductions in 1981 Z80-based home computers Home computers Sinclair computers and derivatives Products introduced in 1981 Computers designed in the United Kingdom Timex Group Goods manufactured in Scotland 1981 establishments in Scotland History of Dundee Economy of Dundee Economic history of Scotland
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