TI-99 Home Computer Timeline
Written by Bill Gaskill
Edited by Bob Laurent
 

1998 will mark the 15th anniversary of the decision by Texas Instruments to abandon the Home Computer. I have compiled the information in this timeline not in celebration of TI's decision to orphan the 99/4A, but rather to honor the community that remains fifteen years after TI's decision. I hope you enjoy the reading.

1947

• Bell Labs engineers John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley invent the transistor, which paves the way for the creation of smaller computers.

1955

• IBM becomes the first computer manufacturer to offer plug-in peripherals for their computers. Although the computers are of the mainframe type, the concept will catch on and become an integral part of microcomputer technology.

1959

• Texas Instruments releases the first integrated circuit after its engineers figure out how to put more than one transistor on the same material and connect them without wires.

1964

• John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz develop the BASIC programming language at Dartmouth College. BASIC will become a mainstay in the microcomputer world.

1969

• Intel, then a one-year old company, releases a 1K-bit RAM chip, which is the largest amount of RAM ever put on an integrated circuit up to that time.

1972

• Intel introduces the 8008 chip in April 1972. It becomes the first 8-bit microprocessor to hit the market.
• Nolan Bushnell founds Atari and ships the Pong game.

1973

• The first "mini" floppy disk is introduced.

1974

• Intel introduces the 8080 chip in April 1974. The 8080 is the first microprocessor capable of addressing 64K bytes of memory.
• Texas Instruments releases the TMS 1000 4-bit chip. It becomes an immediate success as over 100 million are sold for use in video games, microwave ovens, calculators and other electronics products.
• In an article appearing in the July 1974 issue of Radio Electronics, author Jonathan Titus tells readers how to build the Mark 8 "personal minicomputer."
• Motorola begins work on the M6800 chip, designed by Chuck Peddle. Peddle would later leave Motorola to join MOS Technology, the creators of the 6502 chip. Peddle ultimately became Commodore's Systems Division Director, responsible for the release of the PET 2001 in October 1977, after Commodore acquired MOS Technology in order to have its own chip source.
• Naval Post-graduate School instructor Gary Kildall creates a new operating system for Intel's 8080 microprocessor called CP/M, an acronym for Control Program for Microcomputers. It sells for $70.
• Creative Computing magazine is founded by David H. Ahl in Morristown, New Jersey.
• Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie of Bell Labs develop the C programming language.

1975

• Texas Instruments introduces the TMS 9900 microprocessor, the first 16-bit chip on the market, but it does not sell.
• Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems, a company founded by Ed Roberts as a vehicle for supporting his experiments in electronics, introduces the MITS Altair 8800 microcomputer in January. MITS becomes the first company or corporate venture into microcomputers for sale to the general public and the Altair becomes the first microcomputer to have software written for it by third-party programmers. Its open bus architecture also allows people to begin making hardware peripherals, making it the first microcomputer to also have third-party hardware add-ons created for it. The whole Altair kit, including the 8080 processor, motherboard, power supply, and 256 bytes of memory sold for $395.
• MOS Technology introduces the 6501 microprocessor, a short-lived predecessor to the famous 6502 that would power the Apple, Atari and Commodore machines from their introduction to their obsolescence.
• Byte Magazine publishes its first issue in September.
• Bill Godbout and George Morrow (who would later build the Morrow Computer) build the first 16-bit computer with RAM and a built-in cassette interface. An advertisement for the unnamed computer appears in the first issue of Byte Magazine, but not one of the computers is sold.

1976

• Zilog, a computer chip company which is founded by former Intel employee Federico Faggin, introduces the Z80 microprocessor.
• Shugart introduces a 5 _" floppy disk drive in December that sells for the unheard of price of $390. It is housed in a cast aluminum case. In 1979 the company will enter into an agreement with Matsushita of Japan to produce the now familiar sheet metal enclosed case that would retail for $125 and sell for $50 in OEM quantities. This is the same disk drive that Texas Instruments would sell to 99ers for almost $500 in 1979-83.
• Apple Computer Inc. is formed in April by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
• Texas Instruments makes the decision to produce a personal computer built around its unpopular TMS 9900 microprocessor. This is Mistake #1 according to Joseph Nocera, in his "Death of a Computer" article.

1977

• The Radio Shack Division of Tandy Corporation and Commodore Business Machines join the new microcomputer market with introductions of the TRS-80 and PET 2001 (Personal Electronic Terminal) respectively. The TRS-80 is announced in August and the PET in October.
• Computer Shack, later known as Computerland, opens its first store in February.
• Ohio Scientific Instruments offers the first microcomputer with Microsoft BASIC in ROM.
• Axiom Corporation of Glendale, California enters the microcomputer printer market with the first low-cost electrosensitive line printer in the industry.
• The research and development process for TI's planned personal computer is in full swing and a corporate decision is made to assign the task of creating the computer to the Consumer Products Group which makes watches and hand held calculators at TI. Chief Operating Officer J. Fred Bucy decides to move the Consumer Products Group from Dallas to Lubbock, Texas, which is only 29 miles from his hometown of Tahoca. This is Mistake #2 according to Joseph Nocera.

1978

• The Plato computer aided instruction system is developed at the University of Illinois. Control Data Corporation would license these applications to Texas Instruments late in 1983, but by then, the fate of the Home Computer was already sealed.
• Machine and operating system independent UCSD Pascal is released by the Regents of the University of California at San Diego for $200.
• In March, Texas Instruments begins trying to recruit personal computer specialists by running full page ads entitled "Your Experience with personal computers is going to open an unlimited career at TI." in trade publications. The ads seek qualified applicants for Personal Computer Product Marketing Managers, Systems Programmers, Digital Design Engineers, Product Design Engineers, Application Software Specialists and Marketing Support Engineers. The recruitment efforts are largely unsuccessful when potential applicants discover the job is in Lubbock, Texas rather than close to the center of the microcomputer industry, which is northern California's Silicon Valley, situated only an hour's drive from San Francisco.
• In April, Texas Instruments releases a recreational Solid State Software Leisure Library module for the TI58 and 59 programmable calculators, coining and trademarking the term Solid State Software.
• Intel introduces the 8086 microprocessor.
• In August MICROpro releases Seymour Rubenstein's Word-Master word processor, which is the predecessor to WordStar.
• Illinois residents Ward Christensen and Randy Suess create the first microcomputer bulletin board system, conceived, designed, built, programmed, tested and installed in the 30 day period between January 16th and February 16th 1978.
• The $895 Exidy Sorcerer is released in October by Exidy Computers of Sunnyvale, California. The machine sports 8K RAM, a 64 column by 30 row screen and the ability to use plug-in modules that are the size of 8-track tapes. The Sorcerer appears to be the first "Home Computer" to support ROM cartridge use.
• In December Axiom Corporation introduces the EX-801 printer and EX-820 printer/plotter for $495 and $795 respectively. Both have available interfaces for the Apple II, TRS-80, PET and Exidy personal computers.
• Epson introduces the MX-80 dot matrix printer, shocking the industry with its low price and high performance.
• Over 14 million microprocessors are manufactured by year's end, with the 8-bit 6502 chip and TI's 4-bit TMS 1000 chip leading the pack.

JANUARY 1979

• Double sided disk drives are announced but few are available as manufacturers run into difficulty gearing up for production.

FEBRUARY 1979

• Rumors begin to fly about TI's new personal computer, despite the fact that it has not been formally announced. The rumors say the computer will have 40K of ROM, it will generate 20 lines of 40 characters on a standard television, have provisions for accommodating video disk players and video tape recorders, and it will have support for sophisticated sound production.
• Atari enters the personal computer market in February by announcing the 400 and 800 models. The 400 is a non-expandable 8K computer with a membrane keyboard, a single cartridge slot and a cassette port. It will sell for $500. The 800 is an 8K computer expandable to 48K. It comes with a cassette recorder, a full keyboard, 8K BASIC built in and high resolution graphics capabilities. It will sell for $1000. Neither machine appears until August, and then only in limited quantities.

MARCH 1979

• The FCC begins regulating microcomputers that employ radio frequency modulators. Their action is spurred by the rash of previous complaints received when Citizen Band radios created havoc for TV viewers.
• Texas Instruments releases the new Speak and Spell learning aid for children. It is based on the TMS 1000 chip and two 128K DRAM chips, each with the ability to store over 100 seconds of speech.

APRIL 1979

• McGraw-Hill buys Byte and onComputing magazines.
• Tandy begins selling their TRS line of personal computers through their own stores. Several other makers of personal computers withdraw their products from department store shelves after meeting with poor sales and low product acceptance.
• Despite early failure by U.S. department stores to move personal computers, department stores in Europe begin to surface as the major source of sales for Commodore's PET and Radio Shack's TRS-80.
• The CompuServe on-line information service is founded.

MAY 1979

• Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston release their new Visicalc spreadsheet, written for the Apple II computer.

JUNE 1979

• Texas Instruments announces the TI-99/4 Home Computer at the Consumer Electronics Show in June at a retail price of $1150 with a 13" color monitor. It will not appear in any quantity until almost a year later however, and then it will prove to be a flop in the market place.

Software titles announced as being available for the new Home Computer include: Beginning Grammar, Demonstration, Diagnostic, Early Learning Fun, Early Reading, Football, Home Financial Decisions, Household Budget Management, Investment Analysis, Number Magic, Personal Record Keeping, Physical Fitness, Speech Construction, Tax/Investment Record Keeping, Video Chess, and Video Graphs.

Peripherals announced as being available are a Speech Synthesizer, an RS232 interface, joysticks, disk storage and a thermal printer. No memory expansion is available. The price for the console/monitor bundle is $1150 with the Solid State Software command modules listed running anywhere from $19.95 to $69.95 in price.

Actual release dates on several of the announced products would vary from the June 1979 release information.

• MicroPro releases WordStar.
• Color monitors for personal computers are expected to drop below the $1000 mark by late 1979.

JULY 1979

• Milton Bradley Company begins advertising in national trade publications for Electronic Product Engineers, Software Engineers and Microcomputer Programmers, and Electronic Technicians.
• Wayne Ratliff develops the Vulcan Data Base at the Jet Propulsion Labs in Pasadena, California. Ashton-Tate later picks up the program and markets it as dBase II.
• Word of a Japanese invasion into the personal computer market hits the media, much like the never-to-appear MSX invasion of the mid-80's, after Nippon Electric Corporation (NEC) enters the market with their Astra series of 16-bit systems.

AUGUST 1979

• TI releases a $250 hand held language translator that features speech, which means translated words are not only displayed, but are also spoken. The unit will have $50 plug-in modules available for English, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Chinese and Japanese. Each module displays 1000 words in the resident language, 500 of which can be spoken by the speech synthesizer.

SEPTEMBER 1979

• New England Electronics proudly announces that it has been selected to be an authorized distributor of the "revolutionary TI-99/4 Personal/Educational Computer!"
• Computerland begins advertising the 99/4 also, calling it "The Remarkable Home Computer". They also carry the Atari 800 and refer to it as the "Timeless" computer.
• Several other major distributors are also lined up by TI in the closing months of 1979. They begin advertising the 99/4, but fail to receive them and are forced to placate the few people who are willing to pay $1150 for the machine. TI has already gotten off on the wrong foot with their retailers.

OCTOBER 1979

• Texas Instruments releases the TMS9927 Video Controller chip.
• Rodnay Zaks, who would author the book "Your First TI-99/4A Program" in 1983, releases "6502 Games" through Sybex Publishing.

NOVEMBER 1979

• Moore Business Systems agrees to market the TI-99/7, a $5000 business computer based upon the TMS 9900 microprocessor. The 99/7 is one of three computers to be built on the TMS 9900 chip, but it will eventually die, due to internal squabbling at TI, without any production units being shipped.
• Zenith buys the Heath Company, manufacturers of the H-8 and H-11 computer kits.
• Computer Shopper publishes its first issue. A special charter subscription of 12 issues for $10 is offered.
• Milton Bradley releases Big Trak, a programmable toy vehicle. The chip in Big Trak allows the user to program intricate travel paths and fire the truck's weaponry in single burst, short burst or long burst modes. It sells for $43 with trailers that may be purchased separately for $13 each.
• Milton Bradley also releases its Microvision hand held mini video game machine, which has its own screen. Microvision comes with the game BlockBuster. Six other games, Bowling, Star Trek, Phaser Strike, Connect Four, Vegas Slots and Mindbuster are also available, sold separately.

DECEMBER 1979

• Len Buckwalter reviews the new TI-99/4 Home Computer for Mechanics Illustrated magazine on page 46. He calls the machine easy to use and delivers a generally positive review, discussing Home Financial Decisions, and Milton Bradley's Connect Four, Hangman, Yahtzee and Zero Zap cartridges.
• Image Computer Products of Northbrook, Illinois announces the TI Six Pack, which consists of six BASIC games on cassette. They are; Mind Master, Skill Builder, Strategy Pack, Tournament Brickbat, Wall Street Challenge, and Wildcatting.

JANUARY 1980

• The FCC grants TI a waiver on its RF modulator, which failed to pass FCC muster in early 1979 because Texas Instruments did not send the entire unit in to be tested. The waiver allows the TI-99/4 Home Computer to be sold without the expensive monitor that TI was forced to bundle with it because of the RF modulator troubles. In response to the FCC decision TI conducts an extensive advertising blitz to put the 99/4 in the consumer eye. Unfortunately, production problems continue to haunt the Home Computer for the first few months of 1980 and TI is selling fewer than 1000 units per month.

MARCH 1980

• TI has turned out fewer than 30 pieces of software for the 99/4. Although their policy of locking out third-party developers has not yet been articulated, the lack of an Editor/Assembler package for the Home Computer pretty much says it all. This is Mistake #3 according to Joseph Nocera. The only way to write programs for the TI-99/4 is to buy one of TI's $50,000 minicomputers, which is what their in-house programmers use for cartridge program creation. In fact, even after the release of an Editor/Assembler package, programmers at TI continued to use minicomputers. During the entire life of the TI-99/4 and 4A, Hopper was the only cartridge program ever developed internally using the TI-99 Home Computer.
• The existence of the secretive GPL (Graphics Programming Language) has not yet become common knowledge among the computer community, but it will eventually surface and add another nail to the coffin of an already sick reputation the TI-99/4 is earning.
• Creative Computing magazine calls the TI-99/4 "One of the most easy to use systems we've tested...price still beyond the grasp of Middle America."

APRIL 1980

• TI releases Disk Drive Controller PHP 1800 and Disk Memory Drive PHP 1850 for $299.95 and $499.95 respectively. This release comes ten months after the computer was announced! Would you, or did you pay over $1000 for a computer that lacked any storage capability? Before you answer, don't forget that there was no cassette recorder offered for the 99/4 yet either. In fact, TI didn't offer their own cassette recorder until the 1st quarter of 1983!

MAY 1980

• Bill Hawkins reviews the TI-99/4 in Popular Science magazine on page 10, along with the Atari 800 and a virtually unknown cartridge using computer named the APF Imagination Machine from APF of 444 Madison Avenue New York, NY. Although Hawkins is critical of the $1150 price of the 99/4 (TI has still not dropped the price because there are so many console/monitor bundles in dealer inventories), he raves about the computer's Speech Synthesizer peripheral, and mentions the little known PHA 2500 Speech Modules designed to increase the vocabulary of the early Speech Synthesizers.
• TI hires William J. Turner away from Digital Equipment and charges him with creating a marketing plan that will move the TI-99/4 Home Computer off the shelves of retailers and into the homes of consumers.

JUNE 1980

• Radio Shack Executive VP John Roach brings down the house at a brokerage house seminar when from the podium he points to a demo model of the 99/4 and quips, "I'm sure glad somebody brought a TI computer here today. It's only the second one I've seen&emdash;and the first was when they launched it at the Consumer Electronics Show last June."
• New England Electronics, one of the top 10 personal computer distributors in the U.S., stops carrying the 99/4 after only nine months as a distributor. It tries to help its dealers by shifting 99/4s from the many stores where they are gathering dust to the few stores that have found a way to move the Home Computer.
• The June 16, 1980 issue of Fortune magazine says, "...TI has managed to exclude itself from the business and professional market (with the 99/4). It designed the system in a way that makes it difficult (more like impossible) for small, independent companies to write programs or make peripheral gear that can be used on the 99/4."
• An unnamed TI engineer states that some of TI's top managers saw the 99/4 as their "private electronic fantasy" in explaining how the 99/4 survived when two other TI projects, the 99/7 business computer and the professional/scientific computer were both canceled. It is reported that the professional/scientific computer died for lack of funds when the Consumer Products Group was allowed to bleed off funds from the professional model's budget in order to speed up the introduction of the 99/4, which had fallen behind schedule.
• The same article reports that distributors were so impressed with the TI-99/7 business computer that some agreed to take on stocks of the 99/4 just to get at the TI-99/7. Despite this, internal competition and squabbling killed the 99/7 when Shepherd and Bucy decided TI could not afford to fund the 99/7, the professional/scientific computer and the 99/4 Home Computer. As a former TI employee put it, "They threw away two pieces of gold and kept the lump of coal." in opting to continue with the development of the 99/4.
• Commodore Business Machines introduces the VIC-20 at a retail price of $299. The VIC-20 is a dismal machine that is easily outperformed by the TI-99, but marketing mistakes keep TI from ever taking advantage of the Home Computer's technological advantages. The VIC-20 will become the arch enemy of the TI-99 in the price wars that will begin in the Fall of 1982. Getting into a price war with Commodore are Mistake #4 according to Joseph Nocera.

JULY 1980

• Texas Instruments hires 150 college students for the Summer to convert popular software written for other computers to the 99/4 format.
• The Houston, Texas TI Users Group (TI-HUG) is formed by Raymond Wells, becoming the first known TI-99/4 Users Group.

AUGUST 1980

• The Author Incentive program is instituted by TI in an effort to get more application programs written for the 99/4. TI also begins publishing the Home Computer Users newsletter.
• On August 12th, Charles LaFara sends a letter to all known 99/4 users and dealers announcing his intention to start the 99/4 Home Computer Users Group.

SEPTEMBER 1980

• LaFara incorporates the 99/4 Home Computer Users Group in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In its four and one-half year life the organization will move to larger headquarters in Bethany, Oklahoma, it will produce a respected newsletter, and a professional 99/4 specific magazine, it will grow to a claimed membership of over 100,000 users and then ultimately it will file for bankruptcy and breathe its last gasp of life in April 1985.
• The Chicago TI Users Group is formed by Jerry Strauss.

OCTOBER 1980

• Texas Instruments replaces 26 advertising agencies with one agency when it hires New York's McCann-Erickson Inc.
• In a letter to dealers in the United Kingdom, TI announces that an extended GROM is under development for the Home Computer, but that memory expansion for the 99/4 is not planned. The letter points out that no interaction between BASIC and the console GROMs is possible, though that proves not to be true for the Personal Record Keeping and Statistics cartridges. Dutch 99er Paul Karis will uncover this secret almost a year later when he publishes an article on the hidden secrets of the PRK module in the TIHome TIdings newsletter.

NOVEMBER 1980

• TI finally drops the price of the 99/4 on November 28th a full $300 to $650, a move that was first promised for the Summer of 1980.

DECEMBER 1980

• SourceWorld Magazine, a monthly publication of The Source on-line information service, reports that Texas Instruments has plans to begin a TI sponsored Special Interest Group (SIG) called TexNet on their service. No date is given for TexNet availability.
• In a products price list sent to retailers, TI announces 38 new hardware and software products for the 99/4 that are scheduled to be available during the first quarter of 1981. This would turn out to be one of the two largest mass-releases of Home Computer products that TI would announce during the life of the Home Computer. The other would occur during the second and third quarters of 1983, but by then it was too little, too late.

JANUARY 1981

• On January 5th, TI releases prototype models of Extended Basic and 32K Memory Expansion to selected users for testing. A year and a half AFTER the TI-99 is announced to the world, TI finally gets around to beta testing OPTIONAL products that some of the competition comes with as standard equipment! To make matters worse, the actual availability of these two items for the masses is still more than 6 months away.

FEBRUARY 1981

• TI releases the 10" Panasonic made color monitor PHA 4100 to replace the 13" Zenith monitor PHA 4000 that was originally released with the 99/4. The Zenith monitor retailed for $450 when sold separately. The new monitor sells for $374.95 at the time of release, but TI will raise the price on it to $399.95 in 1982.
• 99ers in England are told of the impending release of a Value Added Tax program in cartridge form, but it never appears. The program would surface on disk in 1988 in GRAM format.
• Pewterware of Gulf Breeze, Florida announces the release of Decathlon and Challenge Poker games on cassette.

MARCH 1981

• Texas Instruments announces the impending release of UCSD Pascal for the 99/4.

APRIL 1981

• Charles Ehninger of Fort Worth, Texas, who would found Futura Software, wins first prize in the Author Incentive Program with his Home Inventory program.
• TI Logo is introduced on April 17th and is made available to qualified school districts. It is not available to the general public.
• Delays in the release of Extended Basic and 32K Memory are announced.

MAY 1981

• 99er Magazine publishes it first issue.
• The Cin-Day Users Group and TISHUG Users Groups are formed, Cin-Day by Larry Morrow in the Cincinnati area, and TISHUG by Shane Anderson in Sydney, Australia.
• TI cuts 2,800 jobs from its semiconductor division after prices and demand for chips fall dramatically.
• The as yet released Extended Basic module is reviewed in Creative Computing and bugs are found that cause TI to push the release date back further than anticipated.

JUNE 1981

• TI drops out of the digital watch and magnetic bubble memory business in order to conserve cash in a market where chip prices are depressed and the cost of capital is inflated. While TI was the last U.S. semiconductor maker to manufacture digital watches, it was losing $10 million a year doing so, thus the move was seen as a wise one. The decision to drop the bubble memory business, which only TI and Rockwell International were involved in, came as a complete surprise to most analysts. Texas Instruments had sunk between $50-100 million into bubble memory technology over the last 10 years and seemed destined to stay with it since bubble memory promised to be a cheap and reliable replacement for mechanical rotating disc memories.
• J. Fred Bucy appoints long time TIer and Senior Vice President Grant A. Dove as TI's top marketing official (yawn). Dove spreads the gospel of "marketing" among the troops and immediately decides to increase radio and television advertising a mere $10 million.
• In a move explainable only by insiders, TI announces the Fall 1981 introduction of a digital watch line just two days after telling the world that it will be totally out of the digital watch business by the end of the year.
• The TI-99/4A Home Computer is announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago at a suggested retail price of $525 for the console only. Additional releases are TI LOGO to the general public, TexNet, Editor/Assembler, Terminal Emulator II and Addition and Subtraction 1.

• When the 99/4A is announced, the Atari 400 is selling for $399 and the Atari 800 for $1080. Street prices though are $339.95 and $899.95 respectively. Mattel's Intellivision is available for $249.95 or $569.95 with the Keyboard Component that turns it into a home computer that is able to compete with Atari, Commodore and TI. On the high end of the spectrum, the Apple II+ is selling for $1275 and the new Apple III can be had for a mere $3200.
• TI's own Touch & Tell, Speak & Read, Speak & Math and Speak & Spell learning aids are selling like hotcakes for between $49.95 and $59.95 each. The TI-59 programmable calculator, which now sports over a dozen Solid State Software modules, can be had for $199.95 street price. TI digital watches are now 40-50% off their suggested retail price since TI's announcement that they would be abandoning the wristwatch market. Their top of the line Model 8012 gold tone, which sold for $110.00 originally, can now be purchased for less that $60.
• While announcing further delays in the release of Extended Basic, TI does announce the release of Cash Management PHD 5029.
• TI announces that by early 1982 there will be over 1,000 programs for the 99/4A Home Computer. TI also adds 300 new members to its retail network, a move that is critical to William J. Turner's strategy of mass marketing.
• JC Penney agrees to carry the 99/4A in its Fall catalog where it will enjoy exclusive coverage since Penney's does not carry any other computers at the time.
• Denali Data of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma introduces a joystick adapter that allows Atari joysticks to be used on the Home Computer.

JULY 1981

• Epson introduces Graphtrax for the MX-80 printer.
• The 99/4A appears on the Mike Douglas Show during the week of July 6th. Representatives from Texas Instruments and students from the Lamplighter School in Dallas demonstrate TI Logo and other educational applications. Guest hosts on the show, Darrel Dragon and Toni Tenille, better known as the Captain and Tenille, hear their hit "Love Will Keep Us Together" sung by the 99/4 with a Speech Synthesizer attached.
• Texas Instruments introduces the Video Controller PHP 1290 peripheral that plugs into the I/O port on the right side of the console.

AUGUST 1981

• Structural Engineering Library and Teach Yourself Extended Basic are released.
• TexNet on The Source is announced by TI in the Personal Computer Users Newsletter.
• The 99/4 Home Computer Users Group offers Texpacs in support of the upcoming initiation of TexNet on The Source. Texpacs are three different hardware and software packages that will allow the user to access TexNet.

SEPTEMBER 1981

• Hustle is released.
• The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Users Group meeting of September 20th features a large display and presentation all put on by representatives from Texas Instruments. Demonstrations of TexNet, TI Logo and the soon to be available Editor/Assembler package are given.
• Invoice Management, and Electrical Engineering Library are released.

OCTOBER 1981

• Blasto, Terminal Emulator II and Yahtzee are released.
• Financial problems continue to plague TI dimming the glow of the company who had been the darling of 1970s corporate America. TI reports a 55% drop in profits over the last year, a 3% reduction in its work force and a 50% drop in the price of its stock, which has gone from $150 per share in 1980 to $75 a share in 1981.
• On October 9th Texas Instruments sends the following letter to registered 99/4 and 4A users in the Southern California area.
• "Join the Orange County TI-99/4 User's Group on Saturday October 17, for an afternoon with the management of TI. Mr. Don Bynum, the Personal Computer Division Manager, and Mr. Brian Gratz, User's Group Coordinator for TI, will present the program.
• Highlight of the afternoon will be demonstrations of the Editor/Assembler package, Text-to-Speech, Logo and some exciting future entertainment packages.
• The meeting is scheduled to be held at 1:00pm in the Cafe Ricard room of the Airporter Inn, 18700 McArthur Blvd., Irvine. Join us for an afternoon with Texas Instruments.
• Charles LaFara changes the name of the 99/4 Home Computer Users Group to the International 99/4 Users Group and moves company headquarters to Bethany, Oklahoma.
• Production problems continue to plague Extended Basic, making the new cartridge difficult if not impossible to get.
• TexNet on The Source goes on line on October 23rd. It would flourish for 3-4 years but ultimately founder due to cost, slow operation of the 300 baud limitations of Terminal Emulator II and the lack of the more standard Xmodem protocol for downloading.
• TexNet offered color graphics and animation on line, music and sound effects, an extensive library of programs and state of the art synthetic speech. Services and features included a News Section, Voice Chat using the Speech Synthesizer, a Software Library, a dictionary of phonetic words for text-to-speech, a software directory, listings of User Groups, a graphics library, a music and sound library, a section on help, a Logo exchange and more. Sign up fee was $100 and $7.75 per hour weeknights and weekends 6-12pm, then $5.75 per hour from 12-7am. At its startup, The Source boasted over 350 local access telephone numbers for users.
• Draw Poker, Bridge Bidding II, and Terminal Emulator II are released.

NOVEMBER 1981

• Adventure, Car Wars, TI Invaders and Tombstone City are released.

DECEMBER 1981

• In a Business Week article on TI's inability to crack the personal computer market, a computer analyst for the Arthur D. Little consulting firm observes, "The 99/4 is neither fish nor fowl". The comment refers to the 99/4's position as a computer which is not powerful enough for the high end business user, but that is also too expensive for the low-end home market.
• TI phases out the little known PHA 2500 Speech Modules designed to add vocabulary to the Speech Synthesizer and begins packaging a small 4" x 6.5" notice saying so (part # 1043624-1) with the Speech Editor and Speech Synthesizer instruction manuals.

• Texas Instruments begins to add customer support staff as computer sales pick up during the Christmas season. Marketer William J. Turner is having an effect on the sales volume of the Home Computer by finding ways to bring its price to the consumer down.
• 1982 would turn out to be a year of mixed blessings for TI and for the Home Computer. Through William J. Turner's outrageous projections, his continued ability to get Mark Shepherd and Fred Bucy to authorize price decreases and rebate programs for the 99/4A and through his ability to recruit more and more retailers to carry the Home Computer, Turner was able to paint a false picture of hope that led Texas Instruments to believe the fortunes of the TI-99/4A were turning around.
• As almost any article you find will point out, TI was a company of engineers who lacked any feel whatsoever for marketing. Turner was the marketer and his methods seemed to be working, so he was given his head to do whatever it took to get the bottom line up. For a while he did that, but on price alone, and it was ultimately price that cost the 99/4 its life. The competition, which was mainly Commodore's VIC-20, could be built for under $70. It cost more than $100 to build a 99/4A.

JANUARY 1982

• Texas Instruments announces the release of the Peripheral Expansion Box at the Consumer Electronics Show on January 7th. While it is an improvement over the chained peripherals that plagued the 99/4, the price of the P-Box with a disk controller, RS232, 32K Memory and one SS/SD disk drive is a whopping $1474.75. To make matters worse, it was in very short supply, so the Home Computer owners willing to pay the price still had a difficult time getting one.

• Scott, Foresman releases the School Management Applications software system developed in conjunction with Edusystems Incorporated of St. Paul, Minnesota.

FEBRUARY 1982

• "Introduction to TI Basic" book by Zamora and Albrecht is released.
• Texas Instruments announces the impending release of the new Value Packs.
• The much maligned "Munchman Plan" is announced by TI. This was a sales incentive program that ran from February 1982 until May 1982. The Plan required a user to purchase any three existing Solid State Software Command Modules or one major hardware peripheral in order to receive Munchman. Proof-of-purchase certificates were issued to retailers who were required to give them to customers meeting the Plan requirements. Customers then had to mail the certificate to TI in order to receive their free copy of Munchman.

MARCH 1982

• TI retailers begin receiving shipments of Editor/Assembler on March 16th that were promised for the third week in January. TI advises its retailers that Mini Memory will begin shipping the last week of March.
• Eleven new Software Libraries are released. They include: Home Financial Manager, Family Entertainer, Elementary Educator, Music Educator, Super Programmer, Speaking Math Teacher, Speaking Reading Teacher, Arcade Games and Computer Introductory Package.
• Reading Fun and Personal Report Generator are released.
• APRIL 1982
• Reading Roundup and Tunnels of Doom are released.
• The International 99/4 Users Group raises its membership rates and creates the President's Club as an alternative to regular membership status.
• The street price of a 99/4A is now down to $329.95.

MAY 1982

• Electronics and Computing Magazine places a 12-page TI-99/4A supplement in its May issue.
• Texas Instruments offers a free spreadsheet program called Freeform, written by Aardvark Software, with the purchase of the new p-Code system.
• TI begins a new promotion on May 15th. They offer a free TexNet subscription to anyone purchasing a modem, RS232 and Terminal Emulator II cartridge between May 15th and October 16th, 1982.
• The unpopular Munchman Plan is discontinued.
• TI and Epson reach an agreement whereby TI will be allowed to put their name on the Epson MX-80 dot matrix printer and market it as the TI Impact Printer.
• TI LOGO II is introduced featuring a 3-tone sound generator and sprites.

JUNE 1982

• William J. Turner succeeds in hiring Bill Cosby as the ad campaign spokesman for the Home Computer. It costs TI $1 million a year, but Advertising Age magazine has recently named Cosby the most trusted of all pitchmen.
• Impending releases for Computer Math Games II and VI, the Scholastic Spelling Series, the Milliken Math Sequences, Multiplan, TI Writer, Aardvark's Personal Tax Plan, Chisolm Trail and Parsec are announced at the Consumer Electronics Show.
• In a move that in retrospect appears consistent with the beginning of TI's September 1982 mass merchandising strategy, TI closes six of their TISCO (TI Supply Company) retail outlets.
• Commodore announces the Commodore 64 computer.

JULY 1982

• A New York marketing firm conducts a survey which shows that TI is losing shelf space to the Commodore VIC-20 in the Toys 'R Us, K-Mart, Woolco and Montgomery Ward stores surveyed.
• Despite its January 1982 release, TI's Peripheral Expansion Box and the cards sold for use with it remain in short supply, angering dealers and frustrating owners.
• TI initiates the Product Support Representative program.
• William J. Turner is appointed Vice President of the Consumer Products Group over Don Bynum.

AUGUST 1982

• Texas Instruments fires the first volley in the Home Computer Price Wars by announcing on August 2nd that beginning September 1st, they will offer a $100 rebate towards the purchase of the $299 Home Computer. TI is thought to have 26% of the home computer market at the time. Mistake #4 according to Joseph Nocera.
• On August 16th Commodore International fires a return volley in the price war by cutting the wholesale price of the VIC-20 by $40. The VIC-20 is selling for $199 and is the flagship of Commodore's 23% of the home computer market.
• TI Writer and Parsec are released.
• Timex Sinclair jumps into the home computer fray with the $99 TS 1000. Timex is estimated to have a 26% share of the market based mostly on sales of their ZX-80 machine.

SEPTEMBER 1982

• Atari enters the price wars by offering $60 worth of discounts on its extensive library of educational and entertainment software, while pointing out that their machine runs the popular arcade games like Asteroids, Pac-Man, and Space Invaders. Atari has 17% of the home computer market at this time.
• The tactic of mass merchandising enters the Home Computer Wars as the now inexpensive machines begin popping up in an amazingly wide variety of shops. Customers can find them in supermarkets, drug stores, catalog showrooms, boutiques and department stores. Toys 'R Us, the largest toy chain in the U.S., did not carry a single computer in 1981, but now has floor to ceiling displays of Atari, Commodore and Texas Instruments machines in all of its 144 stores. Safeway stores are offering Commodore computers in 12 stores from Seattle to Anchorage. Macy's will sell 1,000 Timex machines in four days in September 1982.
• TI begins the $100 rebate campaign on the 99/4A console that was announced in August. The rebate promotion is slated to end January 31, 1983. In another promotional TI offers a free Speech Synthesizer to anyone purchasing six Solid State Software Command Modules between September 15, 1982 and January 1, 1983.
• The Computer Advantage Club is introduced.
• Control Data Corporation announces that it produce PLATO Courseware for a variety of microcomputers. It has formerly only been available on main frame computers at an hourly fee for its use.
• Robert Peterson is installed as president of USUS, the UCSD Pascal Users Society, in Dallas, Texas.

OCTOBER 1982

• The 99er Magazine TI-FEST takes place in San Francisco on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of October. Later word on the first and only Texas Instruments supported "Fest" is that it is a success. No one mentions how much money TI pumped into the Gary Kaplan idea to keep it from becoming a failure and potential embarrassment to TI however.
• TI Forth makes its first showing at the TI-Fest.

NOVEMBER 1982

• Texas Instruments obtains exclusive rights to distribute the TI Count line of accounting software for the 99/4A.
• A free hotline is opened for prospective customers to find out where they may purchase the 99/4A, or to take orders for the system directly from Texas Instruments.
• 99er Magazine goes monthly.
• Rumors of an upcoming 99/4A E.T. game cartridge surface in the IUG newsletter.

DECEMBER 1982

• The $100 rebate plan announced in August is extended to April 15, 1983.
• Super Bugger is purchased from Navarone Industries.
• Model Masters announces Disk Manager 2 on disk with promises of a cartridge version to follow shortly.
• Myarc introduces 5 and 10 megabyte hard disks for the 99/4A.
• By the end of 1982 the TI-99/4A is the number one home computer in America. William J. Turner's $100 rebate strategy has been working like a charm since September and 99/4As are outselling VIC-20s at a rate of three to one. TI is producing 150,000 consoles a month and there are now over 12,000 retail outlets selling the computers. Things look great for TI and Turner, but as we know, it didn't last.

JANUARY 1983

• Commodore cuts the price of the VIC-20 to $125. TI is forced to follow suit with the 99/4A. With this round of price reductions the Home Computer is now being sold at breakeven prices. TI realizes no profit on the sale of a unit at all.

• TI releases a 220 page software directory for $8.95 (part #1049749-1) that lists all known TI and third-party software written for the TI-99.
• The Compact Computer 40 and the TI-99/2 Basic Computer are announced at the Consumer Electronics show.
• Compute! magazine begins carrying TI-99/4A articles, programs and advertisements.
• Scott, Foresman and Company releases the Mathematics Action Game Series. The series consisted of three cartridges (each sold separately) with two programs per cartridge, housed in a 9"x6" vinyl book. The cartridges were referred to as Module A, B and C. Module A consisted of Frog Jump/Picture Parts, Module B consisted of Pyramid Puzzler/Star Maze and Module C consisted of Number Bowling/Space Journey. Each module sold for $75.95.

FEBRUARY 1983

• Shipments of 99/4As are halted when an apparent defect is discovered in power supplies shipped with the Home Computer. TI loses $50 million fixing the problem. The power supply was one that TI bought from another company and it had passed safety tests in the U.S., but not in Canada.
• TI releases its own cassette player/recorder for use with the 99/4A. Actually, it was a GE product, but it carried a Texas Instruments name and logo.
• Datamost of Chatsworth, California begins advertising for TI-99/4A programmers and it lists the 99/4A as one of several computers that will have the popular Zaxxon game written for it.
• Thorn EMI announces Submarine Commander and River Rescue cartridges for the 99/4A, to be released in the Spring.
• Milton Bradley announces that the MBX Voice Recognition System will be available in April.

MARCH 1983

• Microsoft Multiplan is released.
• Datamost cancels plans to port Zaxxon to the 99/4A saying that it could not fit the program in an 8K Grompack module and it did not feel there were enough 99/4A disk systems in existence to justify a release of the program on disk. The Grompack excuse seems rather weak however as Zaxxon would ultimately be ported to the Atari 2600 VCS and other game playing machines which had no more (and in most cases even less) memory than the TI-99/4A.
• Texas Instruments offers their new Disk Manager 2 cartridge to owners of the original Disk Manager for $9.95. They apparently bought the program from Model Masters.
• TI offers a free console dust cover and cartridge holder to current Computer Advantage Club members who enroll in a second class between March 1st and July 31st.
• Don Bynum is reassigned to TI's Dallas headquarters due to health problems attributed to the stress of life in the Home Computer Division.
• Sears stores are added to the 99/4A retail network.

APRIL 1983

• On April 4th Commodore cuts the price of the VIC-20 to $99, which is less than it costs to produce the 99/4A. Since TI cannot follow suit they begin losing sales to the VIC-20 because consumers, not knowing any better, and not being told any differently by TI, opt for the less powerful VIC-20 on price alone.
• On April 25th TI begins offering a free Peripheral Expansion Box to anyone purchasing any three of the following: an RS232 card, a Disk Controller card, a Disk Drive, a 32K Memory Expansion card, a p-Code card, TI Writer or Multiplan.
• At TI's annual meeting, J. Fred Bucy announces that TI has shipped it millionth Home Computer. He also announces that the $50 million power supply problem with the Home Computer has wiped out all profits made by 99/4A sales during the first quarter 1983.
• Retailers begin sending TI-99/4A's "back" to TI in order to make room for other items on their shelves. The walls are beginning to crumble.
• Mark Shepherd and J. Fred Bucy replace William J. Turner with Jerry Junkins. Turner has become a "loser" at TI and would leave the company just before the decision to drop out of the home computer business.

MAY 1983

• Plans to produce the TI-99/2 Basic Computer are canceled when prices for the 99/4A drop below the projected sales price of the 99/2.
• Bill Cosby is dropped as the ad campaign spokesman for the Home Computer
• In its premier issue, the IUG's Enthusiast 99 magazine reports that the rumored E.T. game cartridge has been officially scrapped after Atari beats TI to market with their version of the same game.
• On May 6th, TI and Control Data Corporation reach an agreement that allows TI to secure the rights to 108 of the 430 PLATO Courseware titles. Part of the agreement allows Control Data Corporation to put their name on TI's Peripheral Expansion System and market it as the CDC Education Center.
• TI cancels plans to produce MECC's (Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium) series of Extended Basic coded educational programs. They cite duplication of product theme as the reason. I contacted MECC recently to see if anyone there remembered the TI-99 agreement and discovered that only one current employee worked for the company in 1983, and she doesn't remember anything about it. Interestingly enough, in the many phone calls and letters to Texas Instruments over the last two years, I've been told several times that hardly anyone who was involved in the Home Computer in the early 1980's works at TI anymore. I suppose it's like a bad memory that no one wants to be reminded of?
• TI drops the $100 rebate campaign when the retail price of the 99/4A falls to $149.95, but they replace it with a new $50 rebate program on May 15th.
• The Disk Manager 2 cartridge begins shipping with all new disk controller cards sold.

JUNE 1983

• TI releases the beige console with its new operating system that is designed to defeat cartridges that bypass the use of TI's patented GROM. The console is now made of plastic in an effort to get the price of the Home Computer as low as possible.
• Under the stewardship of Jerry Junkins, the TI-99/4A becomes a loss leader when it's price is reduced to $99 in order to match the VIC-20. It is now selling for $25-30 less than it costs to make it.
• TI releases its now famous "Notice" to plug-in cartridge makers that warning them of possible patent infringements if they try to make cartridges for the 99/4A without going through TI's licensing program.
• In a series of meetings after the Consumer Electronics Show, in which TI purposely failed to display the Computer 99/8, plans to introduce it are shelved indefinitely, but the decision is not made public.
• Yet another sales promotion surfaces when TI begins offering a free Speech Synthesizer to anyone who purchases six Solid State Software Command Modules or an Entertainment Value Pack and three modules, or two Software Libraries between June 1, 1983 and January 1, 1984.
• Microsurgeon, Super Demon Attack, Moonmine and Sneggit are announced by Texas Instruments.
• Former TI employee Michael Brouthers, founder of Funware, announces that his firm will produce Ant Colony, Astroblitz, Cave Creatures, Crisis Mountain, Driving Demon, Pipes, St. Nick, and Trashman for the 99/4A and guarantees that all will run on the new operating system despite TI's efforts to lock out unlicensed third party developers.
• Milton Bradley announces that the MBX Voice Recognition System originally planned for release in April will be available some time during the fourth quarter of 1983.
• Jim Peterson's first Tips from Tigercub Software is published.
• Romox announces the impending release of their Hen Pecked, Typo and Whiz Kid cartridges.
• TI announces a 3rd quarter release for Mini Writer, a word processor on cassette that runs out of the Mini Memory cartridge, and Entrapment, a Mini Memory based game program.

JULY 1983

• Texas Instruments releases an internal report listing software sales ranking for the 2nd quarter 1983 which shows that Texas Instruments has three of the top eight games, the #1 seller in home productivity programs (#12), the #1 seller in the computer programming category (#13),and the #1 seller in the educational area (#16).

  1. Pac-Man
  2. Parsec
  3. Galaxian
  4. Centipede
  5. Star Raiders
  6. Munchman
  7. Frogger
  8. TI Invaders
  9. Missile Command
  10. Defender
  11. Cosmic Cruncher
  12. Household Budget Management
  13. Teach Yourself Basic
  14. A-Maz-Ing
  15. Garf
  16. Early Learning Fun
  17. Jupiter Landing
  18. Hunt The Wumpus
  19. Personal Record Keeping
  20. Car Wars

• Control Data Corporation announces its PLATO Courseware Development 2 program, or PCD2. PCD2 allows third-party courseware developers to submit programs for evaluation and possible acceptance into the PLATO Courseware line. Ken Modesitt of the TI Computer Based Learning Center in Lubbock is named as the PCD2 contact for Texas Instruments.
• Anteater is released by Romox Software Publishing.
• Texas Instruments announces a $119 million loss on the Home Computer during the 2nd quarter 1983 alone.
• Scott, Foresman and Company releases the Mathematics Action Games programs as individual cartridges for $39.95.

AUGUST 1983

• TI's Audits and surveys of retail sales data indicates the following videogame and home computer sales breakdown for 1983.

  	   Videogames	Computers
   
  January	72%	      28%
  February    70	       30
  March       62	       38
  April       53            47
  May         57            43
  June        53            47
  July        51            49

• TI signs an agreement with Spinnaker Software that allows TI to produce Facemaker and Story Machine for the 99/4A. They also reach a similar agreement with Sega that allows TI to produce Buck Rogers, Congo Bongo and Star Trek for the Home Computer.
• Ralph Fowler goes on-line with the first TIBBS in Kennesaw, Georgia and the Chicago TI Users Group goes on line with their first BBS. Both systems are the first electronic bulletin board systems ever created for a TI-99/4A system.

SEPTEMBER 1983

• Consumer Reports publishes an non-complimentary review of the 99/4A system, stating the pricing of the peripherals is too high and the system cannot do much without the peripherals.
• Atari Chief Executive Officer Raymond Kassar is fired as Atari continues to lose money on their home computer line. While Atari was the darling of investors in 1981, all gains in stock price since then have been lost. James J. Morgan is named as Kassar's replacement.
• Coleco's Adam Home Computer receives FCC approval and is announced to the world as being ready to ship.
• On September 20, 1983 Texas Instruments announces its 4th quarter 1983 Home Computer Network TV schedule to retail dealers. The line up includes over 160 airings of two commercials; "Reaching" and "Sixth Grade Math", both 30 second spots prepared for TI by McCann-Erickson's Houston, Texas office.
• TI delivers a Product Status Sheet to retailers that is designed to provide the latest information on 99/4A software development. The sheet lists the following products:

OCTOBER 1983

• TI extends the $50 rebate program and includes the cassette version of Teach Yourself Basic with the purchase.
• Navarone releases the Grombuster cartridge designed to defeat the new operating system in the beige consoles.
• Two top Atari executives, John Cavalier and Jeffrey Heimbuck, leave troubled Atari as the company's new CEO James J. Morgan appears to be cleaning house.
• Battered by loses of $223 million during the first 9 months of 1983, on October 28th TI publicly announces that it will bow out of the home computer business. It is a victim of its own self-destructive strategy to bolster sagging sales. In a series of price reductions and rebates over the last year, TI slashed the price of the computer in half, a move which cost the firm $50 on every computer shipped according to Business Week. By the end of September 1983, the Home Computer Division was more than $500 million in the red.
• The $50 rebate program is canceled on October 31st, but TI decides to continue the free Speech Synthesizer (with purchase of six modules) offer until January 31, 1984.
• Andrew Pollack writes a multi-page article on the demise of the 99/4A in the October 29, 1983 issue of the New York Times.

NOVEMBER 1983

• The last 99er Home Computer Magazine is published.
• Don and Lucy Veith release the first issue of The National Ninety Niner newsletter out of Bakersfield, California.
• Corcomp announces a 32K memory expansion card that is available immediately, and they announce the impending release of a DS/DD disk controller card, a Peripheral Expansion System with 32K memory, an RS232 interface, a disk drive power supply, a quad density disk controller, a hard disk connection and 3-4 expansion slots. Corcomp also announces that they are developing a 128/256K Ram card.

DECEMBER 1983

• 99er Home Computer Magazine fails to appear with the December issue, supposedly because of a problem with advertisers after the TI announcement of October 28th.

JANUARY 1984

• TI's Ron Wolfson releases figures of 2.5 million TI-99/4A consoles sold with about 250,000 having expansion systems.

FEBRUARY 1984

• JC Penney department stores drop the 99/4A after trying to unload as many during the Christmas season as they could.

MARCH 1984

• San Francisco based Triton Products Company is chosen as the fulfillment house for remaining 99/4A hardware and software.
• Texas Instruments officially leaves the home computer market on March 28, 1984 when the last 99/4A is produced and the assembly lines are shut down forever.

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