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Amstrad

Amstrad focused more on portable computers, and attempted to enter the gaming market. In the mid-1990s Amstrad began to market communication devices.

=History=

==1980s==

In 1984 the Amstrad CPC 464 home computer range was launched in the United Kingdom, France, Australia and Germany. It was followed by the Amstrad CPC 664 and Amstrad CPC 6128 models. Plus variants later in the products lives increased their functionality slightly, while building in compatibility with the Amstrad GX4000, Amstrad s short-lived foray into the video gaming world.

In 1985, the business-oriented Amstrad PCW range was introduced, which were principally word processor running the CP/M operating system and the LocoScript word processing program. The Amsoft division of Amstrad was set up to provide in-house software and consumables. Amstrad briefly entered the video game console business with the GX4000 based on the CPC Plus hardware which failed to catch on.

On 7 April 1986 Amstrad announced it had bought Sinclair Research Ltd, including the ZX Spectrum, for £5 million. It launched three new variants of the Spectrum including the +2, based on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum+ 128K, with a built-in tape drive (like the CPC 464); the +3, with a built-in floppy disk drive (similar to the CPC 664 and 6128), taking the 3 disks that many Amstrad machines used, and a completely new motherboard; and the +2A/+2B, using the +3 motherboard in a +2 case with tape drive.

The company produced a range of affordable MS-DOS-based, and later Microsoft Windows-based IBM PC compatible, the first of which was the PC-1512 at £399 in 1986. It was a success, capturing more than 25% of the European computer market. A year later, in 1987, the Amstrad PCW was released as a computer dedicated to word processing, it was priced at £499. In 1988 Amstrad attempted to make the first affordable portable personal computer with the PPC 512 / 640, introduced a year before the Macintosh Portable, at 8MHz it ran MS-DOS and GEM but had a poor LCD display.

==1990s - Present==

In the early-1990s Amstrad began to focus on portable computers rather than desktop computers. In 1990 Amstrad tried to enter the gaming market with the Amstrad GX4000, similar to Commodore International did at the same time with the C64 and the C64. The console was a commercial failure, becoming less popular because it used 8-bit technology unlike the 16-bit Sega Megadrive and Super Nintendo. In 1993 Amstrad released the PenPad, a Personal digital assistant similar to the Apple Newton, and released only weeks before it. It was a commercial failure, and had several technical and usability problems. It lacked most features that the Apple Newton included, but had a lower price at $450.

As Amstrad began to concentrate less on computers and more in communication, they purchased several telecommunications businesses including Betacom, Dancall Telecom, Viglen Computers and Dataflex Design Communications during the early 1990s. Amstrad has been a major supplier of set top box to UK satellite television provider British Sky Broadcasting since its launch in 1989. Amstrad was key to the introduction of Sky, as it was the only manufacturer producing decoder boxes and dishes at the system s launch, and has continued to manufacture set top boxes for Sky, from analogue to digital and now including Sky s Sky Plus Personal Video Recorder box.

In 1997, Amstrad supplied set top boxes to Australia broadcaster Foxtel, and in 2004 to Italy broadcaster Sky Italia. In 2000, Amstrad released the first of its combined telephony and E-mail devices, called the . This was followed by the in 2002, and the E3 Videophone in 2004. Amstrad has also produced a variety of home entertainment products over their history, including hi-fi, televisions, video recorder, and DVD players.