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By Ian Adamson and Richard Kennedy
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A New Means To An Old End
One of the unshakeable
tenets of microcomputing mythology insists that Sinclair's
ZX80 computer kit established the parameters of price, computing
capacity and marketing stance that shaped the entire first
generation of home micros. There are many who regard this
as a laudable achievement, while others, like respected computer
journalist and author David Ahl, refuse to regard Sinclair's
influence as a necessary good:
Sinclair
ZX80: with an unusable keyboard and a quirky BASIC, this machine
discouraged millions of people from ever buying another computer.
(Personal
Computer World, October 1985.)
Although none would dispute the machine's
limitations, the ZX80's launch is nevertheless regarded as
heralding a new era of consumer electronics. This is not to
say that the Sinclair machine was by any means the first personal
computer to be marketed in the UK. In 1979, a number of US
products were providing the foundations for a growing number
of retailers specializing in computing equipment. For example,
Tandy's TRS-80 was on offer for just under £500, while
bargain-hunters could pick up a Commodore PET for around £450.
However, high prices ensured that the emphasis was on 'personal'
rather than 'home' micros, and the majority of imports was
aimed at the business and academic market.
As we have seen from the MK14
saga, Sinclair has never been particularly interested
in the machines that made him a millionaire. Nevertheless,
it is still easy to forget that it was only by default that
computers - for many the quintessential emblem of new-age
technology - became a part of Sinclair's vision of the future.
As a result, one of the incidental problems plaguing any attempt
to chronicle the development of the Sinclair companies is
that the man himself assumes little more than a cameo role
in the creation of the products with which he is popularly
associated. One of the most consistent characteristics of
Sir Clive's business career is that he has allowed his personal
obsessions to determine corporate strategy, rather than making
any serious attempt to address consumer demand. Norman Hewett's
assessment of Sinclair's approach to his market during the
Radionics era is equally applicable to subsequent developments
at Sinclair Research:
Marketing-wise,
the situation was quite extraordinary, in that I tried tactfully
to inquire how we knew what the customers wanted, and who,
indeed, the customers were supposed to be! This was greeted
by a very marked lack of enthusiasm by Clive, who was quite
convinced, and is to this day, that he alone knows what the
customers want. And that what they will want is ingenious,
and difficult to make, by definition.
(Interview,
16 October 1985.)
Hewett's view of Sinclair's attitude
to market demand is one of the few plausible explanations
of Sinclair's obsessional preoccupation with commercially
dubious projects such as the flat-screen television and the
electric car. Although it's tempting to consider the cost
of such an approach solely in terms of the millions sunk into
fruitless research, at least as important is its disastrous
effect on the formulation of strategic priorities for the
companies. Because of Sinclair's lack of interest in home-computer
products, in the post-Radionics era, there has been a tendency
within his companies to neglect the sole area of the consumer
electronics market in which he managed to establish a significant
market lead.
Every profile of Clive Sinclair contains
a reference to the man's determination and drive. In the spring
of 1979, when Sinclair realized that it was only a matter
of time before he and Radionics parted company, it is unlikely
that Sinclair was particularly concerned about losing a company
that he had built up from scratch. His companies are simply
a means to an end, and in 1979 the goal in question was still
the success and public acceptance of the miniature television,
just as it had been when he first approached the NEB. The
loss of Radionics simply amounted to a cessation of the funds
required for the realization of his dream. Friends and commentators
alike seem to agree that Sinclair has little interest in the
acquisition of wealth for its own sake. PCW's Dave
Tebbutt, a personal friend of Sir Clive, is adamant that while
he will spend - and spend lavishly - if there's money around,
wealth becomes an issue for Sinclair only when its absence
inhibits the pursuit of his obsessions. Speculating on Sinclair's
state of mind when faced with the spectre of commercial impotence
following the loss of Radionics, Tebbutt is certain that such
circumstances would merely have strengthened Sinclair's resolve.
This view appears to be supported by a description of the
period immediately following Sinclair's departure from Radionics:
At this
point Sinclair became profoundly calm. His irascibility vanished;
he was, according to his mother, 'charm itself '. Nigel Searle
recalls him musing, 'I really wonder whether I ought to be
feeling as good as I do', and those who knew him were puzzled
enough by his serenity to recall it afterwards as noteworthy
. . . After the collapse, Sinclair felt free to rebuild his
success with exhilarating speed and single-mindedness.
(Fortune,
March 1982.)
This 'single-mindedness' had little
to do with the need for personal financial security or the
bolstering of self-respect in the aftermath of what many would
regard as an era of significant failure. Instead, Sinclair's
energies were devoted to generating the capital required to
pursue the research interrupted by the shortsighted obstructions
of the NEB.
In 1979, as in the years to follow,
very little of Sinclair's attention was focused on the problems
and potential of developing and exploiting the home-computer
market. The products that were to determine his business strategy
and hold his interest in the post-Radionics years were flat-
screen televisions, electric cars and, later, wafer-scale
chips and portable phones. However, when circumstances dictate,
even the purest of visionaries must resign himself to the
strictures of pragmatism - or, in this case, the realities
of consumer demand. The limited but encouraging success of
the MK14 suggested an untapped source of revenue that could
be profitably mined without exhausting the decidedly limited
resources of Science of Cambridge. In short, the ZX80, Sinclair's
response to the success of the MK14, was born of commercial
necessity; that the machine spawned a range of home computers
that revolutionized the consumer electronics industry must
be regarded as the triumph of fortune over intent.
John Rowland, then with W. H. Smith,
first met Sinclair in 1980 when exploring the viability of
marketing the ZX80 through the high-street stores as part
of the company's move into consumer electronics. Rowland is
convinced that initially computers were intended to play only
a supporting role in Sinclair's plans for the new company:
The
company was set up to develop the flat-screen TV; the computers
came almost by accident. They were just produced to fund the
TV project.
(Interview,
18 October 1985).
In an interview with the Sunday Times
in April 1985, Sinclair himself acknowledges the irony of
the genesis of the ZX range of computers, and confirms Rowland's
impressions: 'We only got involved in computers in order to
fund the rest of the business.' An earlier interview with
Martin Hayman reveals an ambivalence verging on indifference
as far as computers are concerned:
I make
computers because they are a good market, and they are interesting
to design. I don't feel bad about making them or selling them
for money or anything, there is a demand for them and they
do no harm; but I don't think they are going to save the world.
(Practical
Computing, July 1982.)
Sinclair's opinion of the most successful
products his companies have produced and his motivation for
entering the market in the first place is significant only
in the light of subsequent events. After all, there's no particular
reason why any entrepreneur should be especially interested
in the products he or she markets. However, Sinclair's inability
to isolate his personal predilections from corporate strategy
is axiomatic to an understanding of his business failures,
as will become clear later.
Rodney Dale, in The Sinclair Story,
conscientiously reiterates the received truths celebrating
the ZX80 as a revolutionary concept in microcomputer design.
He even suggests that Sinclair and Chris Curry parted company
over Sinclair's determination to stick to his principles as
an innovator. According to Dale, 'It was on the question of
quality that Sinclair and Curry diverged.' As the ZX story
develops, it becomes increasingly difficult to imagine what
Sinclair had in mind when addressing that 'question of quality'.
Certainly Curry left Science of Cambridge in 1978 to set up
his own company, Acorn Computers, and in 1979 launched the
Acorn System 75. In contrast to the pioneering design concepts
behind the ZX80, Dale feels safe dismissing the Acorn machine
as 'little more than an MK14 with a proper keyboard'.
Whatever the System 75's failings,
in many respects Dale's description is equally applicable
to an assessment of the ZX80's hardware. John Grant, the owner
of Nine Tiles Information Handling Ltd, whose company was
responsible for the machine's software, suggests that the
only sense in which ZX80 hardware was an improvement on that
of existing kits was that it was encased in injection-moulded
plastic. When fully assembled the majority of kits, like the
Nascom and indeed the MK14, were used with their boards exposed.
In short, it is incorrect to think of ZX80 hardware as in
any way innovative. According to Grant, even the much acclaimed
television monitor circuitry can hardly be attributed to the
imagination of Sinclair R&D. This cheap and imaginative
solution to an old problem is strikingly similar to an electronics
project in an American book called The Video Cookbook.
It's worth stressing that although the ZX80's video circuitry
is clever and undoubtedly innovative, it offered an economic
rather than efficient solution to the problem. As a consequence,
many ZX80 users who progressed to bigger and better machines
were amazed to discover that a flickering display was a characteristic
of the machine and not a fact of computing life.
It is not our intention to in any
way detract from Sinclair's success in marketing the ZX range
of computers. What is important is to be precise in our recognition
of the components of that success. The ZX80 did not represent
a development of existing technology, merely its competent
application. Thus this particular product does nothing to
support the popular image of Clive Sinclair the inventor.
Indeed there is nothing in the development of the entire ZX
range to suggest that he had even the slightest interest in
performing such a role. When summing up Sinclair's technical
role in the creation of the ZX80, John Grant recalls:
Clive
didn't have a big involvement. He knew the kind of machine
he wanted and the market he wanted to sell into. His interest
was in checking around to find the cheapest components for
the job.
(Interview,
8 September 1985.)
Although the ZX80 reveals no evidence
of technical innovation on the part of Sinclair or his R&D
department, the machine's success is a testament to the company's
remarkable marketing achievement. By tailoring the computer's
capabilities to what could be achieved using the cheapest
components available, Sinclair was able significantly to undercut
the competition. The low price tag offered a potential expansion
of the market, but such an audience would have to be encouraged
to sit up and take notice. So the unsightly innards of the
ZX80 were hidden by white and blue plastic, and computing
was promoted as a meal ticket to the future. The micro had
begun its drift from the world of the hobbyist into the mainstream
of consumer electronics. Seven years earlier, Radionics had
helped perpetrate a similar shift in the market image of a
commodity. With technology diminishing size and price, the
promotions ensured that the calculator ceased to be a tool
exclusive to the labs and came into use in business, ultimately
descending into the hands of the student. Sinclair's packaging
and advertising eased each transition, soothing consumer anxieties
while opening new markets.
While technically insignificant, the
ZX80 is important as the machine that formed a bridge between
the demands of the hobbyist and the toys-of-technology ethos
of consumer electronics. Certainly the second half of this
assessment is shared by Sir Clive himself, who in 1982 explained:
When
we introduced the personal computer, there was no doubt we
would sell some in the hobbies market, but we also went out
with advertising promotion to the man in the street, on the
grounds that there would be a completely new market there.
(Director,
July 1982.)
By 'the man in the street' Sinclair
presumably means the 'middle-class male professional' with
a taste for technological chic. After all, just under £100
for an image accessory was beyond the pockets of the inhabitants
of humbler streets. This is partially confirmed by subsequent
surveys, which revealed that the first purchasers of the ZX80
were professional males aged 25 to 40.
The kit was launched at a computer
fair in the first week of February, and it was priced £79.95
(plus a further £8.95 for the power supply). The 'ready-assembled'
model was launched a month later, priced £99.95. John
Rowland, who at the time was W. H. Smith's marketing development
manager, recalls that the discrepancy between launch dates
fed the rumours that the more expensive versions were simply
customer-assembled kits returned to Sinclair for repair. Whatever
the truth behind such stories, their popular currency says
much about the company's image even at this early stage in
the game.
Before moving on to chronicle the
development of the ZX80, a word should be said about the machine's
price. At the launch, both versions of the computer were significantly
cheaper than anything else on the market. However, the company's
ability to smash, or rather circumvent, the £100 price
barrier cannot be equated to its role in the fall of calculator
prices a few years earlier. It was genuine advances in technology
and design that facilitated the price cuts that established
Radionics as a pioneer in the calculator market. It was Sinclair's
manipulation of product image that was behind the company's
early domination of the home-computer market.
In designing the ZX80 as a 'crossover'
product between the hobbyist and consumer-electronics markets,
Sinclair's promotional master stroke was to mutate the market
image of a microcomputer until it described the low-cost machine
he could profitably produce. When discussing Sinclair's initial
brief to the hard- and software engineers who created the
ZX line, it soon becomes clear that it was the price of components
that established the limitations of application, not an informed
assessment of the tasks to which a home computer might usefully
be applied. This impression is confirmed by Steven Vickers
when describing his work with John Grant on the development
of the ZX81:
As far
as Clive was concerned, it wasn't a question of what the machine
ought to be able to do, but more what could be crammed into
the machine given the component budget he'd set his mind on.
The only firm brief for the '81 was that the '80's math package
must be improved.
(Interview
with Steven Vickers, 23 July 1985.)
One of the most conspicuous economies
incorporated into the design of the ZX80 was the 'touch-sensitive'
or 'membrane' keypad. To avoid incurring the relatively high
manufacturing costs associated with full-sized typewriter-style
keyboards, the Sinclair machines made use of a top sheet of
plastic, on which simulated keys were printed, the underside
of which had a printed-on metallic circuit to contact a similar
sheet underneath when pressed. The size and design of the
membrane keypad made it an awkward and unreliable means of
entering data; since there was no 'feel' to the keys, and
no sound when they were pressed, a great deal of care was
required checking whether a keypress had registered. Furthermore,
with sustained use many keypads ceased functioning altogether.
Although condemned by reviewers and
users alike, savings in manufacturing costs ensured that the
membrane design would become a consistent feature of the ZX
range, modified but never abandoned. According to Tony Tebby,
one of the QL's designers, the development of the Quantum
Leap machine three years later saw an inexplicable decision
to stick with the unpopular, non-standard design which was
clung on to with a determination verging on perversity. Given
that the QL was to be marketed as a business machine and should
thus offer a quality keyboard suitable for word processing,
it seems incredible that the company should have abandoned
alternatives in favour of an enhanced, but still membrane
design. A number of Sinclair's R & D team have indicated
that Sir Clive himself vetoed the use of standard keyboards,
insisting that the membrane design was an intrinsic part of
the image of a Sinclair computer. Whatever the reasons, apart
from initial savings in manufacturing costs to Sinclair Research,
the only group to benefit from this policy has been the peripheral
manufacturers, who have provided a wide range of alternative
keyboards.
Although the basic ZX80 was relatively
cheap, the realities of such economy can be judged only in
the light of the final cost of a halfway useful machine. One
of the most significant weaknesses of the basic computer was
that it arrived with only 1K of RAM - not nearly enough memory
to enable owners to write serious programs. With this in mind,
Sinclair developed and marketed memory expansion peripherals,
which became available just after the launch of the kit. By
mid-1980, Chris Curry had co-ordinated the launch of Acorn
Computer's second product, the Acorn Atom microcomputer. The
assembled version of the machine was priced £330 and
equipped with 12K of RAM. Now although at first glance the
Sinclair product appears to offer a far better deal, such
impressions are dispelled when the ZX80 is upgraded to meet
the Atom's modest memory specifications. The costing is as
follows:
1 assembled ZX80
(with 1K RAM) |
£99.95 |
1 power supply |
£8.95 |
11 1K memory chips
(@ £16.00) |
£176.00 |
4 memory boards
(@ £12.00) |
£48.00 |
TOTAL |
£332.90 |
Apart from offering a larger memory
than the ZX80, the Atom also arrived with a full-sized keyboard,
a floating-point maths package (as opposed to the integer-only
capacity of the ZX80), a potential for colour graphics and
sound capabilities. Thus although the ZX80 was notionally
cheap, it was also only notionally a computer when one considers
the capabilities of its rivals.
When compared with subsequent Sinclair
development programmes, that of the ZX80 appears smooth, fast
and relatively untroubled. However, it must be remembered
that although work on the ZX80 started only in May 1979, the
development of the Radionics computer that would become the
NewBrain had been progressing since July 1978. Since the R
& D work on both machines was carried out by much the
same personnel, it's clear that the ZX80 programme benefited
from a year of Radionics experience. The incestuousness of
the two projects is highlighted by the fact that today few
of the engineers involved seem capable of remembering who
they were working for during this period.
In April 1979, Clive Sinclair arranged
a meeting with John Grant of Nine Tiles to discuss the development
of the successor to the MK14 kit. At that time, Grant was
working on the software for the Radionics computer, and Sinclair
made it clear that the new Science of Cambridge project would
be shaped by many of the decisions defining the machine that
would later become the NewBrain programme. The Radionics machine
was designed around the Z80A microprocessor (as opposed to
the MK14's SC/MP), and because of the development team's familiarity
with the chip it was decided to use the Z80A in the Science
of Cambridge machine. Grant recalls that Sinclair's brief
to Nine Tiles was mainly concerned with ensuring that software
development was tailored to the limitations imposed by the
components he had selected. At all times the design of the
ZX80 was driven by the goal of producing a computer that broke
the £100 barrier, yet still returned a comfortable profit.
The product's capabilities were of secondary importance.
It's clear that Grant's involvement
with the development of the ZX80 was not inspired by expectations
of significant financial gain. The feeling at Nine Tiles was
that the creation of a mass-market microcomputer was in itself
an exciting project, and one with which the company was interested
in being associated. Given that the estimated R&D costs
for the entire ZX80 project are generally agreed to have just
about reached the five- figure mark, Grant's cut of such a
budget would have offered his company little more than pin
money. Once again, it's worth emphasizing that a major percentage
of the 'creative' design work on this new Sinclair product
was not performed by the company itself, but contracted out
and defined by an unusually nebulous brief.
The month following Sinclair's initial
meeting with Nine Tiles was particularly fraught for him,
since in May 1979 the NEB announced its plans to sell off
Radionics' television and calculator interests. While Sinclair
was busy penning his resignation from Radionics, work started
at Nine Tiles on the development of the ZX80 software. It
has often been argued that the success of the early Sinclair
machines played an important role in establishing BASIC as
the resident computer language for the majority of home computers.
In retrospect, this situation has been regretted by many in
the industry, since it is generally agreed that BASIC is only
moderately successful as a learning tool and positively obstructive
to the development of serious programs. However, because BASIC
had been selected as the Radionics computer's resident language
and full documentation was readily to hand for the ANSI Minimal
BASIC dialect, Sinclair instructed Nine Tiles to prepare a
similar implementation for the Science of Cambridge machine.
Grant remembers suggesting that a more flexible language such
as Forth might offer more progressive facilities to the new
programmer, but, since such an approach would have required
a longer development programme, the possibility was never
seriously considered.
Nine Tiles's work on the ZX80's software
is generally hailed as a triumph of ingenuity over primitive
resources. Given that Grant and his team had only 4K of ROM
into which to squeeze the machine's operating system, editor
and BASIC interpreter, the product of their labours set new
standards for concise programming. Another unusual quality
of the company's work was that it was completed more or less
on time, an event almost without precedent in the world of
R&D. The bulk of the ROM was written in the months of
June and July, but the resultant code required 5K for its
storage. Thus August 1979 was spent trimming the code to fit
the ZX80's 4K ROM restrictions.
While the ZX80's software development
can be chronicled in detail, a shroud of mystery hangs over
the design of its hardware. Even at the time, Grant recalls
a 'cloak-and-dagger' aura to everything associated with the
machine's hardware. One possible version of the story is that
Mike Wakefield, who at the time was working for Newbury to
design the NewBrain's hardware, may have assisted Science
of Cambridge. The hardware was not completed by the August
deadline. Some participants suggest that Wakefield simply
hadn't managed to design and build the circuits required,
others that Newbury was threatening to cause trouble over
his participation in the Sinclair project. All sources appear
to agree that, by the end of August 1979, the ZX80's hardware
had been handed over to the redoubtable Jim Westwood who,
reliable as ever, finalized the work by the end of October.
The events of 1980 must have been
extremely gratifying to Clive Sinclair. Having resigned from
Radionics in July 1979, Sinclair took the £10,000 golden
handshake offered by the NEB and concentrated all his efforts
on carving out a future for his new enterprise. By August,
still desperately short of working capital, he reluctantly
parted with his vintage Rolls-Royce and sold his house. Undoubtedly,
the autumn of 1979 must be regarded as one of many make-or-break
points of Sinclair's career.
The launch of the ZX80 heralded a
turning point in Sinclair's fortunes. In the eight months
following the first appearance of the kit at the Wembley computer
fair, Science of Cambridge sold 20,000 units into a virgin
market. Having decided that in-house production had led to
an overall inflexibility at Radionics, with the ZX80 Sinclair
initiated a policy of 'subcontracting everything that could
be subcontracted'. The early machines were put together by
a small electronics company in St Ives, but before long production
was shifted to the Timex factory in Dundee. This move to Scotland
marked the beginning of what would become an important relationship
between Sinclair and the American watch manufacturer, a co-operation
that would prove more enduring than Sinclair's commitment
to home computers.
The contract between Timex and Science
of Cambridge was the realization of a significant new strategy
for Fred Olsen, the 'Norwegian Howard Hughes' and the tycoon
behind the privately owned and intensely secretive Timex corporation.
Myron Magnet, writing for Fortune magazine (8 March
1982), explained the problems facing the Connecticut-based
company at the beginning of the 1980s:
Timex
fell behind technologically as watches became digital in the
seventies: unit sales stagnated, market share declined, and
profits dwindled to virtually nothing by 1979. So Olsen has
reason to diversify out of the mechanical watch business that
has long been Timex's mainspring.
The arrangement worked well for both
companies. Although in 1980-81 the production of the Sinclair
machines could hardly have generated enough revenue radically
to improve the crisis at Timex, by 1982 the relationship between
the two companies had reached the point where Sinclair technology
was to be licensed by Timex and marketed under the watchmaker's
name in North America. Although the deal turned out to be
a disaster for Olsen's company, Sinclair's comments at the
time underline the importance he placed on the link that was
forged with the ZX80's production:
I think
that Timex will be making more money out of computers than
watches within the next five years ... It will be a $1-billion-a-year
business for them and $50-million-a-year for us.
(ibid.)
The lack of resources at St Ives and
the production delays incurred with the shift to the Timex
plant in Dundee ensured that the public suffered the usual
delays associated with a Sinclair launch. As an early example
of the type of complaint against Sinclair that would soon
become a standard feature in the letters pages of the computing
press, we'll take the case of D. J. Harper. Clearly the kind
of hi-tech enthusiast the company should have been courting
rather than ostracizing, the youthful Harper dispatched his
cheque to Science of Cambridge in February 1980 and heard
nothing for five months. Although Harper was unnaturally patient,
Sinclair's announcement from the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics
Show that Science of Cambridge were to market the ZX80 in
the States proved too much to take. A copy of his plaintive
letter was sent to Computing magazine:
I was
interested to see that you intend marketing the ZX80 in America.
Perhaps before attempting to deliver to the States you could
try delivering to Colchester, Essex, UK, a distance of 40
miles instead of 4000...
Aside from delivery problems, by the
standards of subsequent Sinclair launches that of the ZX80
was relatively trouble-free. Primarily because of the relatively
simple hardware design and the efforts of an unusually conscientious
software team, the percentage of returns was the lowest of
virtually any Sinclair product - official sources put the
figure at around 1 per cent. By and large, the first purchasers
of the ZX range seemed to have been satisfied with their investment
in the new technology. There were occasional complaints about
the keyboard, and everybody agreed that the ZX80, like its
immediate successors, was prone to overheating. Author Tim
Hartnell, in nostalgic mood, recalls:
I'm
not sure that programming will ever be like the 'old days'.
It may sound silly, but I used to enjoy finding out about
the ZX80 while I balanced a frozen milk carton precariously
on top to cool it down!
(Your
Spectrum, May 1985.)
In September 1980, Science of Cambridge
released a 16K RAM pack which enabled owners to significantly
expand their machine's memory without the problems and expense
of multiple chips and expansion boards. At £49.95 the
RAM pack was considerably better value than the earlier expansion
options, but unfortunately its decidedly clumsy design generated
a new variety of problem. Although the new peripheral simply
plugged into the back of the ZX80, thus avoiding the tortuous
and unstable construction required by the earlier option,
the RAM pack was dangerously top-heavy and had a habit of
falling out of its socket. As far as the user was concerned,
this failure of design was disastrous, since hours of programming
could be lost if the RAM pack chose the wrong moment to break
loose. However, even in the infancy of the micro boom Sinclair's
customers proved themselves to be both tolerant and resourceful.
They resigned themselves to the inevitable, and solved the
problem with unsightly gobs of Blu-Tack or chewing-gum.
Enjoying the advantages of little
or no competition, consumer tolerance born of the pioneering
spirit of the times and a general ignorance about what to
expect from a computer, Sinclair's company was able to emerge
unscathed and in profit despite the unnecessary delays and
the thoughtless design of the ZX80. Such conditions prevailed,
and protected Sinclair Research, up to and beyond the launch
of the Spectrum. While initially enabling the company to consolidate
its domination of the market - and at the same time encourage
low standards within the home-computer industry as a whole
- the enormous success of the ZX range encouraged Sinclair
to believe that the company had a God-given right to treat
its customers in a manner that would have spelt commercial
suicide for a manufacturer in any other industry. Reflecting
on the declining fortunes of the Sinclair empire, computer
journalist David Ahl made the following prophecy about the
logical consequences of such policies:
Sinclair
products are highly innovative, interesting and cheesy. In
the long run, the lack of quality and utility, and a cavalier
approach to customers, will spell doom for the company.
(Personal
Computer World, October 1985.)
Although much of the early success
with home computers must be attributed to the company's pricing
policy, credit is also due to the advertising company that
co-ordinated the ZX80 promotion. The Primary Contact agency
was awarded the Radionics contract in 1971, and retained by
each of the subsequent Sinclair corporations until March 1985.
In the promotion of the ZX80, the company was faced with the
problem of needing to seduce an essentially schizophrenic
market; precisely the type of campaign justifiably dreaded
by advertising executives. It must be remembered that Sinclair
was quite clear that for the ZX80 to succeed the machine would
have to gain the support of the hobbyists, while at the same
time appeal to a new market of computer illiterates.
The approach adopted by the Primary
Contact promotions concentrated on hooking the neophytes,
and relied on the obsessional curiosity of the hobbyist to
take care of the communication of technical information to
those who would understand it. It used flashy, full-colour
displays to catch the eye of anyone turning a page, condensed
its technical data into self-contained small print, and devoted
the bulk of its copy to calming the anxieties of the masses.
The idea was to lay the ghost of Big Brother and give birth
to a New Image computing, one that you'd feel safe letting
loose on the kids.
It is doubtful whether either Sinclair
or the majority of his customers would ever admit it, but
the benevolent presence of an avuncular boffin behind the
early microcomputing products played a critical role in the
defusion of the less seductive aspects of an intimidating
technology. Although Guy Kewney, the Personal Computer
World gossip columnist, is anxious to claim credit for
the creation of the 'Uncle Clive' persona, it was Primary
Contact that recognized the need to promote a 'human face'
as the figurehead of a decidedly inhuman revolution in consumer
electronics. Initially Sinclair was marketed as the maverick
doyen of hi-tech, the lone entrepreneur with the vision to
take on the Americans and the Japanese. The implication was
that by supporting Sinclair the consumer was advancing the
cause of British innovation in the face of the brute strength
of foreign marketing might. David O'Reilly is one of the few
journalists to have taken note of the personal emphasis of
the early Sinclair campaigns:
By astute
use of public relations, particularly playing up his image
of a Briton taking on the world, Sinclair has become the best-known
name in micros.
(Microscope,
October 1982.)
This shamelessly patriotic slant was
complemented by a campaign that promoted the idea that computer
literacy was no longer the intellectual bastion of an elite
but the democratic right of the common man (if not yet the
common woman). One of the major triumphs of the early years
of the home-computer industry is that its promotional campaigns
managed to avoid questions as to why the common man should
be remotely interested in the technology. The implication
was that only a neo-Luddite would need to question the need
to become acquainted with the world of the micro. The computer
as a symbol of progress was as undeniable as the relationship
between a Rolls-Royce and wealth.
As David O'Reilly notes, Primary Contact
went 'single-mindedly for the user-friendly strategy'. One
of the most successful slogans of the ZX80 campaign threatened
'Inside a day you'll be talking to it like an old friend'.
Why you were talking to the machine at all and what the ZX80
was offering in return were questions best answered by experience.
However, on one of the rare occasions Sir Clive was inspired
to discuss the role of computers in society, he revealed an
abstract yet refreshingly homely vision of computers which
is satisfyingly reminiscent of Primary Contact's sloganizing:
'Another
thing I'd like to do is make robots .. .' he goes on, pooh-poohing
the existing industrial kind. 'I mean the ones you can talk
to and leave to look after granny. It's going to come.'
(Computer
Weekly, 23 August 1983.)
Chris Fawkes of Primary Contact was
quite clear about the thrust of his company's campaign: 'We
brought personal computers to the mass market by showing that
you didn't have to be a whizzkid to use one' (Microscope,
October 1982). Overnight, the creative imagination of Primary
Contact had managed to clevate the 'use' of a computer to
an application in its own right! Along with the 'common man',
the all-purpose 'businessman' was particularly susceptible
to the necessary good of computing. Absurd though it might
seem today, the glossy double-page spreads advertising the
ZX80 suggested that the machine could play a role in 'managing
a business'. In spite of the fact that the ZX80 could deal
only in whole numbers and offered barely enough memory to
deal with the financial consequences of its own acquisition,
the fear of 'falling behind the times' would soon prove to
be a far more compelling consideration than any concern about
application. Although few knew or especially cared what they
were going to do with it, the home computer would soon become
an essential acquisition for every businessman. Although in
1980 the industry's marketing machine was still in its infancy,
the principles behind the early strategies pioneered by Primary
Contact were to prove sound for years to come.
In recognition of the new thrust of
the company, and with hopes of more of the same profitability
to come, Clive renamed his company Sinclair Computers Ltd
in November 1980.
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