8,732
edits
Changes
→TI signs with Imagic, Sierra; list of million names available
"We're licensing anything that is necessary for use with the 4A," the spokesman said. He noted that some one million of the computers were sold during the last three months of 1983.
'''— JK'''
=Phoenix to hatch soon=
Cor-Comp Inc., the California-based company that says it has developed the successor to the TI99/4A, is begin ning to firm its plans for delivery of the new machine, the 99/64. At the same time, company officials are planning a publicity drive that may get under way in mid-February.
However, as with everything regarding the 99/64, all dates and deadlines are projections. As an example, in December Cor-Comp officials indicated that the new computer would be on the market sometime during the first quarter of 1984. Now, how ever, that seems unlikely.
The 99/64, which is supposed to be fully compatible with all TI99/4A software and hardware, is a feature-laden machine. It was described in the February edition of the Compendium.
The computer is dubbed the "Phoenix" after the mythical bird of ancient Egypt. According to company spokeswoman Betty Loeffel, 1,000 of the machines will be distributed by the end of March as display models for vendors. The company is calling this model "the silver edition."
If all goes according to plan, Loeffel says, the computer will go into mass production by ApriCwith delivery to dealer shelves to follow.
Meanwhile, in late January, the company was scheduled to introduce several new hardware products to go along with the 32K expansion memory card and RS232 card it already markets for the TI home computer.
Ready for delivery late last month, according to Loeffel, were a peripheral expansion box and a disk controller card. A bundled system that includes the PEB, memory card, RS232 card and disk controller card is priced at only $300, Loeffel says.
The peripheral expansion box is supposed to be similar in appearance to the TI PEB and includes an opening for a disk drive.
According to Loeffel, who is the company's chief financial officer, Cor-Comp is able to price the bundled system at $300 because of cost-cutting production techniques. For example, the company has been able to reduce the cost of producing its RS232 card by 48 percent through such techniques, she says.
Loeffel says the company is referring all inquiries about the new computer to its vendors. "Our phones have been ringing constantly," she says. You wouldn't believe it. We can't get off the phone."
'''— JK'''
