--- title: The Tandy TRS-80: The Computer That Beat Apple (For a While) description: On Aug. 3, 1977, the TRS-80 computer went on sale canonical: https://time.com/3968790/tandy-trs-80-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-03T15:00:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:44:35.122Z article:section: History og:title: The Tandy TRS-80: The Computer That Beat Apple (For a While) og:description: On Aug. 3, 1977, the TRS-80 computer went on sale og:url: https://time.com/3968790/tandy-trs-80-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bf8fd2560139a08/69885c14428a9ef57ecce4ce/tandy.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Tandy Radio Shack TRS 80 I personal computer, 1980. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Tandy TRS-80: The Computer That Beat Apple (For a While) twitter:description: On Aug. 3, 1977, the TRS-80 computer went on sale twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bf8fd2560139a08/69885c14428a9ef57ecce4ce/tandy.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Personal Computer That Beat Apple (For a While) > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 3, 2015 3:00 PM UTC  Introduced in August 1977, the TRS 80 was the first complete, pre-assembled small computer system on the market. Introduced in August 1977, the TRS 80 was the first complete, pre-assembled small computer system on the market. Science & Society Picture Library—Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 3, 2015 3:00 PM UTC When the TRS-80 — a personal computer from Tandy that would be sold via their RadioShack stores, hence TRS — went on sale on Aug. 3 in 1977, computers weren’t exactly new. The Apple I had been introduced the previous year and personal computers were clearly a growing market, but Tandy is often [credited](http://time.com/vault/issue/1987-08-17/page/56/) with pioneering the idea of mass-market personal computer. It was just a month after the TRS-80’s release that TIME [touted](http://time.com/vault/issue/1977-09-05/page/43/) the new breed of cheap computers that were attracting new buyers. Of those computers, Tandy’s was one of the most attractive to buyers. “Some day soon every home will have a computer,” Byron Kirkwood, a Dallas microcomputer retailer, was quoted as saying. “It will be as standard as a toilet.” [By 1981](http://time.com/vault/issue/1981-03-02/page/56/), that prediction was on its way to coming true. TIME reported that the market for personal computers was worth about $1 billion, the vast majority of which was controlled by a few companies. One of them was Apple, which had become a well-known company. A 1980 stock offering had been a Wall Street hit; the Apple II, though it went for more than $1,400, was a hit too. But Apple wasn’t first on TIME’s list. That place of honor went to Tandy: --- > “” --- But, especially in the fast-moving tech market, few things last forever. Tandy eventually stopped going by that name, switching to RadioShack. RadioShack [filed](http://time.com/3698287/radioshack-bankruptcy/) for bankruptcy in February. **_Read more from 1977, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Plugging in Everyman](http://time.com/vault/issue/1977-09-05/page/43/) ### PHOTOS: The Rise of Mobile Phones from 1916 to Today  1916 A German field telephone station in the Aisne department of northern France during World War I. Paul Thompson—FPG/Getty Images  1970 French singer and actor Johnny Hallyday in a scene from the film 'Point de Chute' (aka 'Falling Point'). Keystone/Holton/Getty Images  1980 An early mobile phone during the Iranian Embassy siege at Princes Gate in South Kensington, London. Kypros/Getty Images  1983 Bob Maxwell, general manager of Englewood-based Mobile Telephone of Colorado, places a call on an FCC-approved radio frequency while driving to work. Lyn Alweis—Denver Post/Getty Images  1986 THE A-TEAM "The Say U.N.C.L.E. Affair" Episode 5\. (l-r) Eddie Velez as Frankie Santana, Robert Vaughn as General Hunt Stockwell, George Peppard as John 'Hannibal' Smith. Bill Dow—NBC/Getty Images  1992 Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton talks on a cell phone while meeting with Boston Mayor Ray Flynn in a New York hotel on Sept. 25. Mark Lennihan—AP  1993 Whoopi Goldberg during ShoWest in Las Vegas. Jeff Kravitz—FilmMagic/Getty Images  1997 A farmer with his family sitting on a Bullock Cart and talking on a mobile Phone, in Delhi. India Today Group/Getty Images  2001 A woman watches smoke pour out of the World Trade Center Towers in New York on September 11. Nicholas Goldberg—Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images  2011 A rebel militiaman speaks on his mobile phone after capturing territory from government troops on March 25 in Ben Jawat, Libya. John Moore—Getty Images  2011 A youth films the aftermath of tear gas police fired at protestors in Muhammed Mahmoud Street near Tahrir Square on November 23 in Cairo. Peter Macdiarmid—Getty Images  2012 Audience members take pictures of President Barack Obama at Florida Atlantic University on April 10 in Boca Raton, Florida. Marc Serota—Getty Images  2014 A teenager takes a selfie in front of Queen Elizabeth II during a walk around St. Georges Market in Belfast. The Queen has apparently voiced her dismay that when she carries out engagements she is greeted by a sea of mobile phones. 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