Home micros ownership shares, Greece, Feb. 1988

[Gryzor]

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As appeared in Pixel, THE Greek micros magazine of the 80s and early 90s, and as per their own readers census.
CPC: 37.5%
Speccy: 35%
Commodore: 17.5%
Atari hovers around the 3% mark and PCs around 4% (that was the time when smaller-factor PCs like the Olivetti and some cheaper normal-sized ones started appearing, trying to enter the home market).

From my experience, as the 80s progressed further the Speccy share fell considerably while the CPC (mostly) and c64 numbers went up. I don't think the 16-bitters got any serious traction before the decade turned.

[Shaun M. Neary]

It makes sense, the original Speccy came out in 82 with people upgrading to the +2 for the integrated tape deck for fewer loading errors.

I'm genuinely surprised that the 6128 sold more than the 464 but I'm guessing there was no shortage of disc based software in Greece? I know finding stuff on disc in Ireland in the mid to late 80s was as rare as hens teeth. Even in the nations capital, Dublin... the disc based selection was very limited and needed to be ordered in specifically from the shops while the tape stuff flew off the shelves!

[Gryzor]

I think the success off the 6128 relative to the 464 was, precisely, the early success of the Speccy. Positioned against the 6128 the advantage of the latter was much clearer. 

Regarding disks; on one hand, piracy was rampant in Greece. On the other, though, I do remember seeing tons of disk software even in small neighborhood shops, which is strange indeed if you factor in the economic situation of the country... I suppose that, maybe, a larger part of the disposable kids' income went to fuel their micro hobby? 

[Shaun M. Neary]

Definitely economics would have played a big part, and the UK and Ireland weren't doing all that great especially during the early to mid 80s but they were starting to pick up slowly in the late 80s to early 90s. I didn't see a lot of piracy with discs in Ireland, tapes were another story, so much trading and renting games with income going on blank tapes to the point where we had more games than we had time to play!

That's not to say it wasn't happening, just wasn't happening directly under my nose...
@Bryce You were around Dublin in the 80s as well, you ever see any disc piracy going on, or was games just not on your radar?

[eto]

I think in Germany also the 6128 was more popular than the 464. Actually I knew several 6128 owners but only a single 464 owner.

I guess that was at least partially related to the Schneider marketing. They clearly positioned the CPC as a "serious" computer. And almost all the kids that had a CPC had a father who was an engineer. They probably didn't even consider the tape drive.

[GUNHED]

Yes, the integrated floppy is just too teasing. 

[dodogildo]

Nice graph. I wonder what were the actual unit numbers..

[Gryzor]

Nice graph. I wonder what were the actual unit numbers..

Yeah, I wondered myself. I think Pixel had a circulation of 30K at that point. Its readership had a high level of engagement, too, so I'm guessing a substantial number of readers did send in the survey (I have the issue with the survey coupon and it's been cut out). However, what "substantial" means is still a question😁

[Optimus]

Interesting and how I remember things from my childhood, most friends or the few who were into computers anyway, they had ZX Spectrum or Amstrad. A lot of my friends had the 6128. It was rare to find one with a C64.
Passing games to each other on 3 inch disks and copying with Discology was a classic memory.

[Gryzor]

Interesting and how I remember things from my childhood, most friends or the few who were into computers anyway, they had ZX Spectrum or Amstrad. A lot of my friends had the 6128. It was rare to find one with a C64.
Passing games to each other on 3 inch disks and copying with Discology was a classic memory.

Of course it was 😀 
Every time someone announced they had a new game during school recess, it was a party 😊

[Johnny Olsen]

Such little rascals