A 16K memory expansion could be purchased for $49.95.īefore the launch of the TS2068, there was a TS2016 (supposed to be a Spectrum 16K), but this was dropped when the TS1500 was introduced.
#SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM 16K SOFTWARE#
Despite this, they sold well and just as with the dawning UK home computer industry, there were soon many peripherals and software titles available to enhance the TS1000. As soon as it went on sale for just $99, Commodore dropped the price of its VIC-20 to match, and soon after offered a trade-in program which offered $100 if you traded in your Timex-Sinclair and purchased a C64. The TS1000 was a ZX81 with an NTSC RF modulator fitted in place of the PAL modulator, and had 2K of RAM instead of the ZX81's 1K. TS1500 - ZX81 clone with 16K RAM and looks like a Spectrum.Sinclair was doing well in the States, and by June 1982 it was selling 18,000-20,000 ZX81s a month - more than the combined unit sales of Tandy, Apple and Commodore - but suffered severe quality problems, with only one in three machines actually working.Ī tie-up with Timex was the obvious answer, and resulted in four officially-licensed clones, produced between 1981-84.
The American giant was already Sinclair's prime contractor for building ZX81s and Spectrums at its plant in Dundee, Scotland.
Sinclair sold the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum through mail order in the USA for a time, but the Sinclair machines' biggest American success came about through the company's collaboration with Timex.