RF modulator altogether. This allowed the C64 to be plugged into a technical examiner for a sharper picture.
Unlike the IIe, the C64's NTSC affair capability also included separate luminance/ hue signal affair fellow to(
and electrically compatible with) S- videotape, for connection to the Commodore 1702 examiner, furnishing
indeed more video quality than a compound signal. Aggressive pricing of the C64 is considered to have been
a major catalyst in the videotape game crash of 1983. In January 1983, Commodore offered a$ 100 rebate in
the United States on the purchase of a C64 to anyone that traded in another videotape game press or
computer.( 24) To take advantage of this rebate, some correspondence- order dealers and retailers offered a
Timex Sinclair 1000( TS1000) for as little as$ 10 with the purchase of a C64. This deal meant that the
consumer could shoot the TS1000 to Commodore, collect the rebate, and fund the difference; Timex
Corporation departed the computer request within a time. Commodore's tactics soon led to a price war with
the major home computer manufacturers. The success of the VIC- 20 and C64 contributed significantly to the
exit from the field of Texas Instruments and other lower challengers. The price war with Texas Instruments
was seen as a particular battle for Commodore president Jack Tramiel.( 25) Commodore dropped the C64's
list price by$ 200 within two months of its release.( 6) In June 1983 the company lowered the price to$ 300,
and some stores vended the computer for$ 199. At one point, the company was dealing as numerous C64s as
all computers vended by the rest of the assiduity combined. Meanwhile, TI lost plutocrat by dealing the TI-
99/ 4A for$ 99.( 26) TI's posterior demise in the home computer assiduity in October 1983 was seen as
vengeance for TI's tactics in the electronic calculator request in themid-1970s, when Commodore was nearly
busted by TI.( 27) All four machines had analogous memory configurations which were standard in 1982 -
83 48 KB for the Apple II( 28)( upgraded within months of C64's release to 64 KB with the Apple IIe) and 48
KB for the Atari 800.( 29) At overhead of$ 1,200,( 30) the Apple II was about doubly as precious, while the
Atari 800 bring$ 899. One key to the C64's success was Commodore's aggressive marketing tactics, and they
were quick to exploit the relative price/ performance divisions between its challengers with a series of TV
commercials after the C64's launch in late 1982.( 31) The company also published detailed attestation to help
inventors,( 32) while Atari originally kept specialized information secret.( 33) Although numerous early C64
games were inferior Atari 8- bit anchorages, by late 1983, the growing installed base caused inventors to
produce new software with better plates and sound.( 34) It was the onlynon-discontinued, extensively
available home computer by also, with further than 500,000 vended during the Christmas season;( 35)
because of product problems in Atari's force chain, by the launch of 1984" the Commodore 64 largely has(
the low- end) request to itself right now", The Washington Post reported.( 36)
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