Personal Computer Sales by Brand 1975-2005

[Fort Apocalypse]

TRS-80.org reports sales stats from 1977-1980, focusing on TRS-80, Apple II, and Atari 400/800:

* http://www.trs-80.org/was-the-trs-80-once-...lling-computer/

 

Possibly even more interesting is the table of stats he based this on from jeremyreimer.com along with Jeremy's graphs, and the info at the bottom:

* http://www.jeremyreimer.com/total_share.html

 

I never realized how sharp a dive the C64 took in the mid-80s. It had more momentum than the IBM PC.

Edited January 19, 2009 by Fort Apocalypse

[fiddlepaddle]

I was one of the guys who bought one of the first TRS-80 computers, and had to wait 2 months for my turn to buy one. It was a really hot item. I didn't even know people were under the impression the Apple II was more popular. I know for a fact that it wasn't.

 

Even after the introduction, Radio Shack was more popular with the business crowd for quite a while because it was less expensive, and color was considered unnecessary by most business people who needed a computer for word processing, which is what most bought it for: more or less to replace a typewriter. Tandy was overwhelmed with the demand from the outset and was limited by the ability to build them, not sell them.

[Royalshin]

What does the term "PC" have to do with any of this?

 

Are we talking about

 

DOS

Basic

Windows

 

????

 

When you buy a PC you can install any operating system

 

Also what about the worldwide scale ?

 

Where is Nintendo, Hudson, NEC, Sega, and other companies/coperations in all of this?

 

Again since this is general gaming. How does this have to do with videogames?

 

The commendore looks normal for the US market but I know there was many people playing a C64 with Streetfighter during the SNES days.

 

I never realized how sharp a dive the C64 took in the mid-80s

 

Just around the time Nintendo and the rest of the Jackie Chan Gang showed up

[jetset]

Was the Texas Instruments line that insignificant that it isn't even represented? Maybe it was just the 'burbs I came from but I seem to remember everyone had a TI-99 back in the early 80's, especially when the rice dropped to $99.00

[Fort Apocalypse]

What does the term "PC" have to do with any of this?

 

Some brief PC history. The IBM PC came out August 12, 1981. Soon after a whole bunch of different companies were selling "clones" (IBM PC compatible computers). When the PC first came out, there was no Windows and there was no Linux. There was eventually OS/2 and probably some other stuff that I'm not remembering, but the primary thing was DOS.

 

When you buy a PC you can install any operating system

 

Not then. Like I said when it first came out there was pretty much only DOS. (First IBM then Microsoft, right? I forget.)

 

Also what about the worldwide scale ?

 

Those aren't my stats. Look at the bottom of the page to get more info on where he got those numbers.

 

Where is Nintendo, Hudson, NEC, Sega, and other companies/coperations in all of this?

 

Pick up some books on PC and game console history and do some research. The stats I shared are about old computers, not game consoles. Sorry to disappoint you. I didn't even write it. Just passing on the info.

 

Again since this is general gaming. How does this have to do with videogames?

 

Well, it is Classic Gaming General and since gaming on old computers is considered classic gaming also, I thought I'd share this info on old computers here. Granted this could have gone in another area about Computers and Science, but this information is geared toward classic computers and AA doesn't have a classic computers section, so I usually post classic computers stuff here.

 

If you think there should be a separate area for classic computers, ask Albert. I think it would be a good idea.

Edited January 20, 2009 by Fort Apocalypse

[Fort Apocalypse]

Was the Texas Instruments line that insignificant that it isn't even represented? Maybe it was just the 'burbs I came from but I seem to remember everyone had a TI-99 back in the early 80's, especially when the rice dropped to $99.00

 

Yeah, I was surprised at that as well. I think maybe it fell into "other" in the chart, which was a significant chunk.

[fiddlepaddle]

I think by the time the TI99 was being sold for $99, Texas Instruments was just trying to sell all the machines they had remaining after discontinuing production. Wasn't it based on the TMS9900 microprocessor? TI had big plans for that microprocessor, but it never really took off. It had a very interesting architecture where all the main registers were 16 bits and located in main memory, and there were LOTS of them.

 

As a programmer, you could switch from one set of registers to another by changing one index register. Doing a context switch from one running program to another could be extremely fast. Unfortunately, this also caused routine math to be slower than other 8 bit processors popular at the time (8085, Z80, 6800, 6502). The 16 bit architecture of the TMS9900 would have scaled up much better to 16 bit hardware, especially if RAM had gotten faster, uh, faster.

[monzamess]

So this chart is "sales" and not "market share" right? Is it worldwide?

 

I can understand how a bunch of computers would fall into the "other" category, but the Apple II isn't even listed separately? Sure they were expensive for home use but schools snapped them up!

 

Amazing that the Amiga only outsold the C64, and just barely, in the early 90s, and they both held a small but measurable share until the mid-90s.

[Fort Apocalypse]

So this chart is "sales" and not "market share" right? Is it worldwide?

 

I can understand how a bunch of computers would fall into the "other" category, but the Apple II isn't even listed separately? Sure they were expensive for home use but schools snapped them up!

 

Amazing that the Amiga only outsold the C64, and just barely, in the early 90s, and they both held a small but measurable share until the mid-90s.

 

The numbers in the spreadsheet on left are sales in 1,000's of units, to right is market share in %.

[Rybags]

I doubt A8 sales just went to nothing in 1986.

 

Even though the XEGS barely put a dent in the market, you'd still expect some sales.

 

A big WTF about Apple II though - I don't doubt it, but only question why people still bought the things.

[Fort Apocalypse]

According to http://oldcomputers.net/ti994a.html:

* At the end of 1982 the TI-99/4A is the number one home computer in America, with approximately 35% of the market share, and producing 150,000 consoles a month.

* In February 1983, in order to remain competative, TI again cut the price to dealers, and the cost of a TI-99/4A dropped to about $150.

* In June 1983, TI released the cheaper beige plastic version of the TI-99/4A, and again had to cut the price, to less than $100. They are now selling computers for less than it costs to manufacture them! As a result, TI experienced a second-quarter loss of $100 million.

[fiddlepaddle]

Apple II... ...schools snapped them up!

Apple subsidized the school market, big time, with the idea that it would acclimate students to their computers so that when the kids grew up, they would influence sales in business and industry. Looking back, it was a successful strategy.

[Fort Apocalypse]

So this chart is "sales" and not "market share" right? Is it worldwide?

 

I just looked again and it appears the stats are worldwide: "Table 1.1 US and Worldwide Computers-in-Use Growth". Note this info is 3-4 years old, but was new to me.

[aftermac]

So this chart is "sales" and not "market share" right? Is it worldwide?

 

I just looked again and it appears the stats are worldwide: "Table 1.1 US and Worldwide Computers-in-Use Growth". Note this info is 3-4 years old, but was new to me.

 

Worldwide would make sense... at first I was thinking US share. Macintosh had over 20% market share in the early 90s.

 

Market share = Sales. Installed base != Market share.

[Atariman]

Just around the time Nintendo and the rest of the Jackie Chan Gang showed up

 

erm...

[JamesD]

Exactly how many times do I need to point out that those sales figures are wrong. The TRS-80 Color Computer was Tandy's top seller for almost it's entire life and the CoCo 3 wasn't even introduced until 1986 and it sold until 1991. According to that they sold exactly 0 of them. Clearly they weren't included at all.

 

The Ti was one of the sales leaders for a brief while. It sold poorly at first and probably only sold well once the price plummeted and was soon discontinued. Still, it should have had a significant blip for a year or two.

 

Timex Sinclair was a top seller for 1 year... and then Timex promptly died. The first machine to sell 1 million in a single year and they aren't even mentioned. I guess that might account for the other peak in 1982.

[Fort Apocalypse]

Exactly how many times do I need to point out that those sales figures are wrong. The TRS-80 Color Computer was Tandy's top seller for almost it's entire life and the CoCo 3 wasn't even introduced until 1986 and it sold until 1991. According to that they sold exactly 0 of them. Clearly they weren't included at all.

 

The Ti was one of the sales leaders for a brief while. It sold poorly at first and probably only sold well once the price plummeted and was soon discontinued. Still, it should have had a significant blip for a year or two.

 

Timex Sinclair was a top seller for 1 year... and then Timex promptly died. The first machine to sell 1 million in a single year and they aren't even mentioned. I guess that might account for the other peak in 1982.

 

Sorry. I'm a coco fan, even though really just the original coco (coco1/grey case ). I know that some numbers are missing in the stats, and I didn't mean to mislead anyone by linking to his summary and the graphs.

 

Is there a better source that summarizes all personal computer sales from 1975-2005 (or similar)? I am guessing that there is enough truth in the report above to be of use, but it definitely isn't complete. But, I still found it interesting, especially the bit about the C64.

[godslabrat]

It's really interesting to note that, since the first release of Windows, the PC has only declined twice: 1998 and 2007.

 

A lot of Apple enthusiasts are hoping Mac cracks 10% market penetration in the next 3-5 years. From what I've heard about Windows 7, I don't think it's an impossibility. Honestly, as a recent Mac convert, I think it is a setup that more people should look into.

[JamesD]

The C64 was probably selling as a game machine by the plummet. 16/32 bit machines had taken over and were dropping in price and game consoles started stealing sales.

 

BTW, Apple II's weren't all subsidized in schools. Apple donated machines at first but once there was a strong educational support in schools, the schools just received discounts. Even with discounts the profits had to be pretty good.

[carmel_andrews]

They Missed off the Atari XL and XE range

[Mirage]

I did read the entire thread, so sorry if I missed someone else saying this, but... if you (not really you, but "they") broke this out into home and business use (and maybe even schools), it would be a lot more interesting and informative. Just breaking out all the "IBM-PC" sales into just ones sold to businesses would change this whole picture dramatically. Hardly anyone in the early '80s had IBM-PC's at home, relative to all those that had computers from the other manufacturers. My neighbor was the only one I ever knew who had a PC (I think it was an XT), but he was a professional writer, so I consider that to be business use also. The Commodore 64 sales (and I'm sure some others as well) didn't drop off that dramatically around 1984 for home use.

[oracle_jedi]

So this chart is "sales" and not "market share" right? Is it worldwide?

 

I just looked again and it appears the stats are worldwide: "Table 1.1 US and Worldwide Computers-in-Use Growth". Note this info is 3-4 years old, but was new to me.

 

 

I doubt this is World Wide.

 

The European market saw dominance from Sinclair at the low end, and the Commodore PET in the mid sector from the late 70s to at least 1983.

 

Acorn was also a major player in the UK market until at least 1986.

[MCHufnagel]

Just around the time Nintendo and the rest of the Jackie Chan Gang showed up

Are you racist or just stupid?

[Fort Apocalypse]

Just around the time Nintendo and the rest of the Jackie Chan Gang showed up

Are you racist or just stupid?

 

He's just looking for attention. He didn't get enough love as a child.

[Artlover]

Just around the time Nintendo and the rest of the Jackie Chan Gang showed up

Are you racist or just stupid?

He's someone who was already banned from here once (and other places too) who's come back with one of his known alternate handles.

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...t&p=1339647

 

Don't waste your time.