The horrible Radio Shack computer that became your phone

Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Dell, IBM, HP, Samsung…Tandy? Technology history is filled with stories of companies that survived industry turbulence and emerged stronger on the other side. There is also no shortage of companies that have failed spectacularly and become little more than footnotes. That’s the story of Tandy and his TRS-80 pocket computer.

Sold exclusively through Radio Shack, the TRS-80 was part of a new generation of small, lightweight personal computers that could be taken on the go. Sure, in 2024 we don’t think twice about the personal computers (also called smartphones) that we all take with us everywhere, but in the early 1980s these devices sounded like the future. Popular science even devoted its November 1980 cover to the gadgets, with columnist V. Elaine Smay writing, “At home, in the office, on the road — these little computers give you the brainpower to go.”

If you’ve never heard of Tandy or the TRS-80 pocket computer, that’s understandable. The Tandy company takes its name from Dave Tandy and his son Charles, who ran the Hinckley-Tandy Leather Company in Texas. Yes, a leather goods company that eventually acquired Cost Plus Imports (which would eventually become Pier 1), Color Tile, Leonard’s and Radio Shack in 1962. It was the purchase of Radio Shack that propelled Charles Tandy into the technology industry.

In 1977, the releases of the Commodore PET 2001, the Apple II, and the TRS-80 desktop marked the first time that fully assembled, programmable computers could be easily purchased by… pretty much everyone. Previously, hardcore enthusiasts had to put together their own mini computer kit. And of course everyone knows Apple these days, but in 1977 Tandy was just as important as Apple is today. They even had a built-in distribution system through the wildly successful Radio Shack, which had more store locations than McDonald’s. They dominated early sales of personal computers by controlling 60 percent of the PC market.

So what went wrong? In our latest Popular science video, host Kevin Lieber not only unravels the history of the TRS-80 pocket computer, but also slowly descends into a state of relentless frustration trying to use one. Can Kevin find the right cables to play games on his TRS-80? Why don’t we all scroll Instagram on a Tandy smartphone? The answers teach us why some companies have been lost to time, no matter how successful or influential they once were.

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