Apricot Computers: An underrated British brand
Apricot Computers was a British brand that produced innovative PCs in the 1980s and early 1990s, including the Apricot PC and Apricot Portable. Despite pioneering features like graphical user interfaces and mouse input, the company struggled to compete with larger rivals like IBM and eventually faded from the market.
Background
- Apricot Computers was a British PC manufacturer founded in 1965 (originally as Applied Computer Techniques) that peaked in the 1980s, competing with Amstrad, Sinclair, and IBM in the UK market.
- The company pioneered early all-in-one desktop designs, like the Apricot PC (1983) and the Apricot XEN (1985), featuring built-in trackballs, compact cases, and innovative but incompatible software (it used 3.5" floppy drives before most rivals).
- Apricot lost relevance in the 1990s after failing to adapt to IBM PC compatibility standards, and the brand was eventually sold. It is now remembered mostly by retrocomputing enthusiasts and British tech history buffs.
- The article argues Apricot is "underrated" because its engineering was ahead of its time, but poor marketing and the dominance of the IBM PC ecosystem caused it to be forgotten.