Dan Ross – Timex

Mr. Daniel Ross, Vice President of Operations, Timex Computer Corporation, was the second speaker at our Anniversary meeting. He described the Timex company — its relationship with Sinclair Research, its announced computer products, and its plans for a national user group.

Timex is the company largely responsible for popularizing the wrist watch. According to Dan, this occurred primarily because Timex built an affordable, durable product and put the product in a marketplace where people felt comfortable buying it. In addition to wrist watches, however, Timex has demonstrated the capability to mass-produce many high-technology products. Gyroscopes, Polaroid cameras, and computer assemblies are just some examples.

Timex began manufacturing the ZX-81 for Sinclair in January 1981 in its Dundee, Scotland plant. In 12 months Timex assembled over 500,000 computers. Dan commented that, if Sinclair is the largest seller of computers, then Timex is the largest builder. Timex’ first computer product was introduced in the U.S. on July 29. Timex plans to expand into the Mexican and Canadian markets when their production capabilities allow.

Dan suggested that Sinclair selected Timex to market its computer in North America because of Timex’ distribution and marketing skills. According to Dan, Timex has the largest distribution system of any company in the world. In addition, Timex has very high brand identification (only two companies have higher). Fifty percent of the world’s population see the name “Timex” daily.

The Timex Computer Corporation is a new company, with dedicated sales and support staff. It is headquartered is Middlebury, Connecticut. Distribution for the TS-1000 is currently through computer specialty stores, major department stores, and some chain drug stores. Dan confided that distribution was constrained this year by production capability. Demand has run three times production. Currently, Timex is producing one computer every ten seconds! Manufacturing of the TS-1000 has expanded to plants in Scotland, Portugal, and France. Two of Timex’ Far East plants will be used for additional computer products.

Timex launched its advertising campaign in September with national TV and magazine ads. The tag line in Timex’ ads is “The Power is Within Your Reach.” The magazines were chosen to avoid confusion with Sinclair products, which also are advertised nationwide. Response has been tremendous. For example, in the third week more than 52,000 call attempts were metered for the toll-free phone number in the ads. This tied up all 800 lines into Connecticut. Obviously, Timex was not able to service all the calls. Dan said Timex is busy trying to get a better answer rate.

Products announced by Timex include the TS-1000 (the ZX-81 plus an additional 1K of RAM), the 16K RAM module, and 30 software packages. Timex will have more that 50 software packages by the end of the year. They will cover four areas: home, education, entertainment, and business.

The Timex printer is expected to be available in December. The printer prints 40 columns on heat-sensitive (thermal) paper. It plugs into the computer’s edge connector and comes with its own power. In addition, it uses the computer’s LPRINT, LLIST, and COPY commands. The computer commands produce 32-column output, but the programmer can use all 40 columns. The printer will sell for $99.95.

The Timex modem is due the first quarter of 1983. It will provide direct interface to the phone line, i.e., to the small connector on the back of your phone. Software to use the modem will also be included. From what Dan said it can be inferred that the modem will provide automatic dial and answer capabilities. The cost of the modem will be $99.95.

Timex has announced that they will market a family of computers. Timex has research and development facilities in Middlebury, Connecticut; Cupertino, California; and France.

Timex will also have a national user group. Each person who returns the warranty card for a new TS-1000 automatically becomes a member. Members will receive a quarterly publication, new product information, and a plastic card good for promotional discounts. Dan said that members of user group organizations may also be given the opportunity to participate in these benefits.

In the question and answer period, Dan stated that Timex is working on a computer literacy series with WGBH, the educational TV station in Boston. He also said that programs in ROM packages are coming in the future, and that several companies are working on such an approach to program distribution.