Editing ZX Spectrum (section)

=== Launch ===
The ZX Spectrum was officially revealed before journalists by Sinclair at the [[Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill|Churchill Hotel]] in [[Marylebone]], London, on 23 April 1982.<ref name="registerhistory">{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Tony |title=Happy 30th Birthday, Sinclair ZX Spectrum |url=https://www.theregister.com/2012/04/23/retro_week_sinclair_zx_spectrum_at_30?page=1 |website=The Register |access-date=2 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002185823/https://www.theregister.com/2012/04/23/retro_week_sinclair_zx_spectrum_at_30?page=1 |archive-date=2 October 2023 |language=en |date=23 April 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated1">{{Cite news | last = Warman | first = Matt | date = 23 April 2012 | title = ZX Spectrum at 30: the computer that started a revolution | newspaper = [[The Daily Telegraph]] | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/9220468/ZX-Spectrum-at-30-the-computer-that-started-a-revolution.html | location = London | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130308205705/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/9220468/ZX-Spectrum-at-30-the-computer-that-started-a-revolution.html | archive-date = 8 March 2013 | url-status = live | access-date = 31 March 2015 | quote = It was the computer that introduced a generation to video gaming, helped to earn Sir Clive Sinclair a knighthood and even made programming cool: the ZX Spectrum has a lot to answer for. }}</ref> Later that week, the machine was officially presented in a "blaze of publicity" at the [[Earl's Court]] Computer Show in London,<ref>{{cite web |title=ZX Spectrum profile |url=https://www.retrogamer.net/profiles/hardware/zx-spectrum-hardware-profile/ |website=[[Retro Gamer]] |publisher=[[Future plc]] |access-date=3 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215164112/https://www.retrogamer.net/profiles/hardware/zx-spectrum-hardware-profile/ |archive-date=15 December 2022 |location=[[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] |date=4 December 2013}}</ref>{{sfn|Adams|1982|p=52}} and the ZX Microfair in [[Manchester]].{{sfn|Clark|1982|p=4}} The ZX Spectrum was launched with two models: a 16KB 'basic' version, and an enhanced 48KB variant.{{sfn|Leigh|2018|p=69}} The former model had an undercutting price of £125, significantly lower than its main competitor the [[BBC Micro]], whilst the latter model's price of £175 was comparable to a third of an [[Apple II]] computer.{{sfn|Clark|1982|p=14}}{{sfn|Kean|1985b|p=127}} Upon release, the keyboard surprised many users due to its use of rubber keys, described as offering the feel of "dead flesh".<ref name=registerhistory/><ref name="telegraph">{{cite web |title=Sir Clive Sinclair, inventor of an early pocket calculator who transformed the home-computing market but came unstuck with the infamous C5 – obituary |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2021/09/16/sir-clive-sinclair-inventor-early-pocket-calculator-transformed/ |publisher=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]] |access-date=3 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118063318/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2021/09/16/sir-clive-sinclair-inventor-early-pocket-calculator-transformed/ |archive-date=18 November 2022 |location=London |date=16 September 2021}}</ref> Sinclair himself remarked that the keyboard's rubber mould was "unusual", but consumers were undeterred.<ref name=syntax/>

[[File:Harold Macmillan and Clive Sinclair.png|thumb|left|90 year-old [[Harold Macmillan]] using the ZX Spectrum with Sinclair looking on (1984)]]

Despite very high demand, Sinclair Research was "notoriously late" in delivering the ZX Spectrum. Their practice of offering mail-order sales before units were ready ensured a constant cash flow, but meant a lacking distribution.{{sfn|Leigh|2018|p=68}} [[Nigel Searle]], the newly-appointed chief of Sinclair's computer division, said in June 1982 the company had no plans to stock the new machine in [[WHSmith]], which was at the time Sinclair's only retailer.{{sfn|Clark|1982|p=43}} Searle explained that the mail-order system was in place due to there being no "obvious" retail outlets in the United Kingdom which could sell personal computers, and it made "better sense" financially to continue selling through mail-order.{{sfn|Clark|1982|p=44}} The company's conservative approach to distributing the machine was criticised,{{sfn|Leigh|2018|p=68}} with disillusioned customers telephoning and writing letters.{{sfn|Johnston|1982|p=4}}{{sfn|Pratt|1982a|p=4}} Demand sky-rocketed beyond Sinclair's planned 20,000 monthly unit output to a backlog of 30,000 orders by July 1982. Due to a scheduled holiday at the Timex factory that summer, the backlog had risen to 40,000 units. Sinclair issued a public apology in September that year,<ref name=registerhistory/> and promised that the backlog would be cleared by the end of that month.{{sfn|Johnston|1982|p=4}} Supply did not return to normal until the 1982 Christmas season, however.{{sfn|Leigh|2018|p=70}}

Production of the machine rapidly increased with the arrival of the less expensive Issue 2 [[motherboard]], a redesign of the main circuit board which addressed hardware manufacturing defects that affected production of the first model.{{sfn|Adamson|Kennedy|1986|p=256}} Sales of the ZX Spectrum reached 200,000 in its first nine months,{{sfn|Popular Computing Weekly|1983a|p=1}} rising to 300,000 for the whole of the first year.{{sfn|Backhurst|1983b|p=14}} By August 1983 total sales in Britain and Europe had exceeded 500,000,{{sfn|Popular Computing Weekly|1983c|p=1}} with the millionth Spectrum manufactured on 9 December 1983. By this point, an average of 50,000 units were being purchased each month.{{sfn|Popular Computing Weekly|1983d|p=5}}

In July 1983, an enhanced version of the ZX Spectrum was launched in the United States as the [[Timex Sinclair 2068]]. Advertisements described it as offering 72 kilobytes of memory, having a full range of colour and sound for a price under $200.<ref name="byte198312">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1983-12/1983_12_BYTE_08-12_Easy_Software#page/n281/mode/2up | title=Now from Timex...a powerful new computer. | work=BYTE | date=December 1983 | accessdate=20 October 2013 | author=Advertisement | pages=281}}</ref> Despite the improvements upon its British counterpart, sales proved poor and [[Timex Sinclair]] collapsed the following year.<ref name=registerhistory/>{{sfn|Bradbeer|1983|p=83}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Timex Sinclair 2068 - RTO - Computer - Computing History |url=https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/62128/Timex-Sinclair-2068-RTO/ |publisher=The Centre for Computing History |access-date=23 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240423204916/https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/62128/Timex-Sinclair-2068-RTO/ |archive-date=23 April 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>