The Colour Genie was released at about the same time as EACA's updated to the 1981 monster computer, the Video Genie. First released in Germany in August of this year, it was soon available in the UK via the same distributor that had been shipping the earlier models - Lowe Electronics. EACA has previously made their machines compatible with the TRS-80 Model 1, a computer that had been first launched in 1977, but broke with that tradition for this machine not least because the processors were different. EACA also shared something in common with Franklin, as it also produced an Apple II clone, like Franklin's ACE 1200. Rumour has it that EACA's founder legged it to Taiwan after the company went bust at the end of 1983. Wikipedia has more on the machine here and on the company, here.