On August 3rd, 1977, the Radio Shack TRS-80 Micro Computer System was released for sale! Along with the Apple II and the Commodore PET, the TRS-80 became part of what historians call the "1977 Trinity" - the first group of fully assembled, mass-marketed personal computers. Radio Shack was famously cautious, spending less than $150,000 on the entire development project of the computer, and executives were initially so skeptical of the computer success that they only produced 3500 units - one for every store - planning to use them for inventory management if they failed to sell to the public. The complete system retailed for $599.95; an Apple II cost twice as much and didn't include a monitor. Radio Shack went on to sell out of all 3,500 units within a month, and sold over 100,000 units by 1978, capturing roughly 40% of the PC market and outselling Apple by nearly four to one. Over its entire lifetime, the TRS-80 Model 1 sold 200,000 units.
