The iWoz reference is particularly interesting, because it again talks about how well they sold (the guy who ran the computer store referenced in my blog post said the same thing). The bottom must have dropped out of SOL's business REALLY fast then to go from selling so briskly (for the time) to becoming a footnote... (your InfoWorld link claims 20,000 in a single year for SOL and "dealership restrictions" as the reason why they lost out by 1978 (I think a lot of companies must have felt the crunch when Radio Shack began selling their own computers from the relative ubiquity of their stores alone)).
The Secret Guide to Computers link tries to lump the SOL into the 1977 trinity of Apple, Commodore and Tandy. That appears a bit off based on what we now know (1976 and into 1977 before the release of the Apple II, the first in the trinity), though they were certainly contemporary competition.
*************************** Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
The iWoz reference is particularly interesting, because it again talks about how well they sold (the guy who ran the computer store referenced in my blog post said the same thing). The bottom must have dropped out of SOL's business REALLY fast then to go from selling so briskly (for the time) to becoming a footnote... (your InfoWorld link claims 20,000 in a single year for SOL and "dealership restrictions" as the reason why they lost out by 1978 (I think a lot of companies must have felt the crunch when Radio Shack began selling their own computers from the relative ubiquity of their stores alone)).
The Secret Guide to Computers link tries to lump the SOL into the 1977 trinity of Apple, Commodore and Tandy. That appears a bit off based on what we now know (1976 and into 1977 before the release of the Apple II, the first in the trinity), though they were certainly contemporary competition.
***************************
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.