Page 169 - Demo

167Long before he was trying to take a hot-air balloon to the moon or produce a yeast extract spread to rival Vegemite, adventurer and entrepreneur Dick Smith unleashed his personal computer on the market.In 1968, Dick had launched his first electronics store, and thanks to the gift of the gab and his trademark black-rimmed glasses, he became a market disruptor before we even knew what that meant. Finally, men dressed in brown cords and cardigans had a place to buy reasonably priced CB radios and electronic components and to talk to other men who were allergic to sex.By the late 1970s, personal computing had really started to take o%u00a0, and Dick%u2019s competitors, the US company Tandy, were having huge success with their TRS-80. Smith decided to take them on with price. Enlisting the help of overseas computer and software manufacturer Eaca, he rebadged their TRS-80 clone as the Dick Smith System 80.Dick jumped into marketing overdrive, labelling it the %u2018cheapest and best%u2019 machine on the market in its sector. At the time, one of these beige and brown units would have set you back $595 %u2013 that%u2019s a shade over $3000 today.At that price, it didn%u2019t even come with a monitor; you had to plug it into your own TV. However, you could play a series of primitive games on it. The games came on cassette and could be loaded onto the computer.Granted, these units weren%u2019t designed or made in Australia, but they%u2019re a great example of homegrown marketing ingenuity. If it wasn%u2019t for Dick Smith, thousands of Australians wouldn%u2019t have hovered over a unit that had about as much memory as today%u2019s electric toothbrush* and spent hours playing games where the main objective was to stop a white dot from hitting the side of the screen.In 1982, two years after the release of the System 80, Dick Smith sold the remainder of his business to Woolworths and lived happily ever after with his helicopter.*Might not actually be true.YEAR 1980DESIGNER & MANUFACTURER EacaDISTRUBITOR Dick SmithThanks to the gift of the gab and his trademark black-rimmed glasses, Dick Smith became a market disruptor before we even knew what that meant.