RE: 'IBM PC Compatible': How Adversarial Interoperability Saved PCs From Monopolization

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From what I recall, there were at least a handful of Apple II and also ZX Spectrum clones, although the IBM PC was where a lot of the money was at the time, seeing as everyone wanted a slice of the business market, which was quite profitable!



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I'm not as familiar with the Spectrum but you're right about the Apple II clones. The Laser 128 and its variants were pretty successful. There was also the Franklin ACE.

I suppose nobody ever attempted to clone the Commodore 64 because nobody could have competed with them on price. Commodore was vertically integrated and owned the manufacturer of their CPU and other chips (MOS Technologies). Whoever cloned a Commodore computer would have had to buy from Commodore. The Apple II was much higher priced and there was more room to undercut them.

There were also licensed clones of the Macintosh for a while but Apple put a stop to that after a few years.

I always wanted an Amiga myself but by the time I was able to upgrade from my Commodore 64 (1993), it was clear that the Amiga was on the way out. Commodore went bankrupt the following year.

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