keyboard component why did they even try

[bradhig]

Why would Mattel try to sell that dumb Keyboard component when it wasn't even ready to go? I mean they told people it would come out spring 1981 and it didn't. I like to believe Intellivision would have survived if they hadn't bothered with the keyboard.

[Rev]

Wasnt it rushed to market because some government agency was fining them for making promises to the consumers and they had to release something to stop the fines?

[jaybird3rd]

Wasnt it rushed to market because some government agency was fining them for making promises to the consumers and they had to release something to stop the fines?

You're thinking of the ECS Computer Adaptor module, which is what eventually replaced the original Keyboard Component.

 

I think the main problem with the Keyboard Component was the cost: buying a "real" home computer would have been cheaper in 1982 than buying the Intellivision Master Component and the Keyboard Component together, and it would have offered more functionality.

[Rev]

Wasnt it rushed to market because some government agency was fining them for making promises to the consumers and they had to release something to stop the fines?

You're thinking of the ECS Computer Adaptor module, which is what eventually replaced the original Keyboard Component.

 

I think the main problem with the Keyboard Component was the cost: buying a "real" home computer would have been cheaper in 1982 than buying the Intellivision Master Component and the Keyboard Component together, and it would have offered more functionality.

 

 

 

I was thinking of the Keyboard Component. Here is what i found on the intellivisionlives site. It was the FTC that was fining them, so that is when they brought out the ECS to stop the fines.

 

 

Finally, in mid-1982, the FTC ordered Mattel to pay a monthly fine (said to be $10,000) until the Keyboard was in wide distribution. Mattel was forced to go with its back-up plan: it released instead the Entertainment Computer System (ECS) that had been quietly developed by a different division. Although less powerful than the Keyboard Component, it minimally offered what had originally been promised: to turn the Intellivision into a computer. It was sufficient (along with an offer to buy back all outstanding Keyboards) to get the FTC off Mattel's back.

The Intellivision Keyboard Component, with only 4,000 produced, was officially canceled.

But it didn't go quietly: Compro, Inc., the Costa Mesa, California company that had been contracted to manufacture the Keyboard, sued Mattel for ten million dollars, claiming breach of contract, fraud, and nonpayment for the last 1,300 units. This was just one of the lawsuits Mattel, Inc. settled early in 1984 when Mattel Electronics was closed.

[jaybird3rd]

I was thinking of the Keyboard Component. Here is what i found on the intellivisionlives site. It was the FTC that was fining them, so that is when they brought out the ECS to stop the fines.

Exactly ... they promised the Keyboard Component but couldn't deliver on it, so a fine was imposed by the FTC and was not lifted until the release of the ECS. The ECS was an entirely different product from the original Keyboard Component; it wasn't nearly as impressive as the Keyboard Component would have been, but it met the minimum requirements for turning the Intellivision into a computer, which was enough to satisfy the FTC.

 

Your question was "wasn't it rushed to market because some government agency was fining them ... and they had to release something to stop the fines?", and the ECS is the only one of the two products that satisfies the "it" in that question. The Keyboard Component certainly wasn't "rushed to market"; it was delayed and ultimately never released (except for the few that made it out in test markets), which is what the fines were all about in the first place. But I might simply be misreading the semantics of your question.

[jaybird3rd]

As for the OP's question of why Mattel even bothered ... all of the popular consoles at that time were getting "computer upgrades" of one kind or another, so Mattel certainly wasn't alone. The Atari 2600 had the Spectravideo Compumate and the unreleased Graduate add-on, the ADAM was an add-on for the ColecoVision (and was also marketed as a standalone system), and the Atari 7800 was to have its own computer keyboard.

 

It must have seemed like a good idea at the time: consoles were cheaper and easier than computers, so the reasoning was that a (relatively) inexpensive computer upgrade might be a less-intimidating way for nervous consumers to get started with home computers. I'm sure the biggest players in the console market also wanted a share of the computer market out of fear that consumers would outgrow the consoles and move on to computers. In my opinion, the upgrades never really worked because the early consoles were optimized so specifically for video games, and were too limited (in specifications and in their expandability) to make really effective computers. The price point also disappeared fairly quickly thanks to the Commodore VIC-20, the Timex/Sinclair machines, and other inexpensive computers which specifically targeted the entry-level market.

[+DZ-Jay]

As for the OP's question of why Mattel even bothered ... all of the popular consoles at that time were getting "computer upgrades" of one kind or another, so Mattel certainly wasn't alone. The Atari 2600 had the Spectravideo Compumate and the unreleased Graduate add-on, the ADAM was an add-on for the ColecoVision (and was also marketed as a standalone system), and the Atari 7800 was to have its own computer keyboard.

 

It must have seemed like a good idea at the time: consoles were cheaper and easier than computers, so the reasoning was that a (relatively) inexpensive computer upgrade might be a less-intimidating way for nervous consumers to get started with home computers. I'm sure the biggest players in the console market also wanted a share of the computer market out of fear that consumers would outgrow the consoles and move on to computers. In my opinion, the upgrades never really worked because the early consoles were optimized so specifically for video games, and were too limited (in specifications and in their expandability) to make really effective computers. The price point also disappeared fairly quickly thanks to the Commodore VIC-20, the Timex/Sinclair machines, and other inexpensive computers which specifically targeted the entry-level market.

 

Not only that, but the original purpose of the Intellivision was that it would be part of a comprehensive education and entertainment system, which included the game console, a computer, software, and peripherals. This is why it was marketed as "Intelligent Television."

 

The Keyboard Component was the hook that brought in many customers, which were not looking for just another game machine. Ultimately, even Mattel realized that video games were a strong selling point during the early 1980s, and most of the software cartridges were turned towards that.

 

The Keyboard Component was a very ambitious project, but could not be made in a cost-effective way.

 

-dZ.

[IntellivisionDude]

Quote me if i'm wrong but technically you could say the Intellivision did survive, just not at Mattel. Some of my favorite games are the games released after INTV bought the rights. But i'm sure if they stayed at Mattel those games would of came out anyway. But i believe Mattel may have canned the Intellivision anyway even without losing money on the keyboard. The crash was around the corner. And that's history.

[SoulBlazer]

I wonder how many of the 4000 Keyboard Component's that Mattell made were 1) sent to people who complained at a loss for the company 2) Held on to when Mattel dropped support, as they could have returned them and 3) are still around today? I suspect the number of them still existing is less then a thousand.

 

It's a shame Mattell couldn't make it cost effective.

[IntellivisionGuy97]

I'm hoping that someday, there will be a Keyboard Component for me.

[+DZ-Jay]

I'm hoping that someday, there will be a Keyboard Component for me.

 

Sorry, Guy, but that one's already mine.

[bradhig]

I saw photos of one on the forums Did you have to take the Intellivision out of it to play cartridges?

[+DZ-Jay]

I saw photos of one on the forums Did you have to take the Intellivision out of it to play cartridges?

 

I don't think so. I believe the Keyboard Component has a slot in itself for cartridges (on top, I believe), and it plugs a ribbon-cable adapter to the cartridge port of the Master Component.

 

However, I don't own one, so I could be wrong.

 

-dZ.

[IntellivisionDude]

Not sure if this question has ever been asked before, but could the original keyboard component play the ECS games or are they entirely different beasts all together?

[jaybird3rd]

Not sure if this question has ever been asked before, but could the original keyboard component play the ECS games or are they entirely different beasts all together?

Entirely different. The ECS was really just an extra AY-3-8914 sound chip, 2K of RAM, serial I/O, and a small OS ROM to make it all work. Much less sophisticated than the Keyboard Component would have been.

[+DZ-Jay]

Not sure if this question has ever been asked before, but could the original keyboard component play the ECS games or are they entirely different beasts all together?

 

What are "ECS games"? You mean like the musical keyboard thing?

[IntellivisionDude]

Not sure if this question has ever been asked before, but could the original keyboard component play the ECS games or are they entirely different beasts all together?

 

What are "ECS games"? You mean like the musical keyboard thing?

 

http://www.intvfunhouse.com/mattel/ecs.php

[Walter Ives]

On 12/6/2011 at 9:24 PM, Rev said:

Finally, in mid-1982, the FTC ordered Mattel to pay a monthly fine (said to be $10,000) until the Keyboard was in wide distribution. Mattel was forced to go with its back-up plan: it released instead the Entertainment Computer System (ECS) that had been quietly developed by a different division. Although less powerful than the Keyboard Component, it minimally offered what had originally been promised: to turn the Intellivision into a computer. It was sufficient (along with an offer to buy back all outstanding Keyboards) to get the FTC off Mattel's back.

This story is total baloney. The FTC did indeed investigate, but there were never any fines. The Keyboard Component was cancelled in August 1982, the ECS didn't hit store shelves until December 1983, a year and a half later, the month before Mattel Electronics closed.

[+DZ-Jay]

On 12/3/2022 at 8:06 AM, Walter Ives said:

This story is total baloney. The FTC did indeed investigate, but there were never any fines. The Keyboard Component was cancelled in August 1982, the ECS didn't hit store shelves until December 1983, a year and a half later, the month before Mattel Electronics closed.

Well, there goes an entire thread accepted as part of the historical canon.

 

I wonder what else we thought we knew but didn’t really? 
 

Never mind, I think a picture is starting to emerge from all those recent posts by Mr. Ives.  Wow!  Someone really needs to write this history down somewhere!

 

   dZ.

[Sinjinhawke]

Yeah, everything I took for granted seems to be all baloney.   I think the Intellivisionairies should get ahold of Mr Ives for their next show and set the record straight.

[Numan]

It was promised and was a reason why some people bought it over the Atari.

[mr_me]

On 12/6/2011 at 8:29 PM, bradhig said:

Why would Mattel try to sell that dumb Keyboard component when it wasn't even ready to go? I mean they told people it would come out spring 1981 and it didn't. I like to believe Intellivision would have survived if they hadn't bothered with the keyboard.

It did come out in 1981, but it seems Mattel wasn't trying to sell them.  It wasn't in stores, aside from a couple of cities, and it was dropped from their marketing in 1981.  They told people it would be out in 1980, people could buy one in 1981/82 by mail order if they complained to Mattel.

 

In 1982, the next generation video game systems came out, Atari 5200, Colecovision, Vectrex, Commodore 64.  So in 1983, Intellivision was relegated to a budget system like the 2600.

Edited December 6, 2022 by mr_me

[First Spear]

On 12/5/2022 at 3:27 PM, DZ-Jay said:

Well, there goes an entire thread accepted as part of the historical canon.

 

I wonder what else we thought we knew but didn’t really? 
 

Never mind, I think a picture is starting to emerge from all those recent posts by Mr. Ives.  Wow!  Someone really needs to write this history down somewhere!

 

   dZ.

 

It would be great to get more light on this topic, as this has been in the BSR site for a long time.

 

https://history.blueskyrangers.com/hardware/keyboardcomponent.html