1978
• 6560 VIC1 Chip developed, intended for game consoles to be
manufactured by OEM’s (read: not Commodore)
1980 April
• Jack Tramiel announced at a strategy meeting in London, England. The
intention is to build a US$300 home computer.
1980 June
• VIC-1001 Announced as the worlds first Colour Computer for less than
$300 and sold in Japan’s Seibu Department Store. The machine would
later be rebranded VIC-20.
1981 Jan – Feb
• First VIC’s delivered to retailers
• Bally Arcade licenses Commodore to manufacture its arcade games into
cartridges for the VIC-20
1982 Jan
• VIC Modem, a 300 Baud Cartridge, is released for $110
1982 Fall / Winter
• Commodore 64 announced
• Commodore has shipped 750,000 VIC-20 computers by the end of 1982.
Apple Computer has shipped 600,000 Apple II computers by the end
of 1982. Timex has shipped 600,000 Timex/Sinclair 1000 computers by
the end of 1982. Texas Instruments has shipped 575,000 TI 99/4
computers by the end of 1982.
1983 January
• Commodore’s sales of VIC-20s exceeds 1,000,000 units!
1984 January
• January 13th – Commodore shows off prototype 264 and 364 at CES and
indicates they should be in production by June
• January 15th – Commodores founder, visionary and CEO, Jack Tramiel
quits Commodore with secret plans to buy the near bankrupt Atari
• Commodore shows a Golden Jubilee version of the 64 to commemorate
the 1,000,000 C64 to be produced in the US
1985 January
• Commodore shows off the C128 Personal Computer at CES. This new
machine has three modes: 64, CP/M and the new 128KB mode
• Last VIC is produced and shipped
• Total lifetime sales are about 2,500,000 units
Commodore VIC 20 – Cronologia
