Apple II: The Managing Director's Personal Computer

It's another advert for the Apple II, the 6502-based computer that might not have made it - as it was over twice the price of its compatriots - had it not been for the advent of VisiCalc.  

Apple's price of "as little as £1,700" as mentioned in the advert is about [[1700|1981]] in [[now]] money, whilst the equivalent Commodore PET of the day was about £700, or [[700|1981]] now.

The idea that software is at least as important as the hardware had become well-established by this time, with the advert mentioning financials, planning, word processing and the like, but it was VisiCalc that defined it, as it was the first "killer app" that sold a computer, rather than the other way around. 

And although this advert actually doesn't make the claim, many other Apple adverts of the time did: that Apple was the "best-selling micro in the UK". 

Actually, in 1982, BIS-Pedder (as reported in PCW's October 1982 issue[source: "Top of the pops", Personal Computer World, October 1982, p. 105]) published its annual Census of Information Systems in which it summarised the top ten micros by units sold in the UK:

Sinclair - 43.3%<br />Commodore - 8.8%<br />Acorn - 6.7 %<br />Nascom/Lucas - 6.6%<br />Apple - 5.7%<br />Lowe/Video Genie - 4.6%<br />Sharp - 4.4%<br />Tangerine - 2.6%<br />Tandy/Radio Shack - 2.4%.

