industry computing electronics founded cambridge england uk 1973 headquarters london england uk key people sir clive sinclair founder nigel searle director 1979 to 1986 jim westwood rick dickinson designer products sinclair zx spectrum sinclair ql revenue 102 million gbp 1985 number of employees 140 1980s 3 1990 1 1997 website www.sinclairzx.com sinclair research ltd is a british consumer electronics company founded by clive sinclair in cambridge . originally incorporated in 1973 as ablesdeal ltd. and renamed to westminster mail order ltd and then sinclair instrument ltd. in 1975 it remained dormant until 1976 when it was activated with the intention of continuing sinclair s commercial work from his earlier company sinclair radionics ; it adopted the name sinclair research in 1981 . in 1980 clive sinclair entered the home computer market with the zx80 at 99.95 at the time the cheapest personal computer for sale in the uk . in 1982 the zx spectrum was released later becoming the united kingdom s best selling computer competing aggressively against commodore and amstrad . at the height of its success and largely inspired by the japanese fifth generation computer program the company established the metalab research center at milton hall near cambridge in order to pursue artificial intelligence wafer scale integration formal verification and other advanced projects . the combination of the failures of the sinclair ql computer and the tv80 led to financial difficulties in 1985 and a year later sinclair sold the rights to their computer products and brand name to amstrad . 1 sinclair research ltd still exists as a one man company continuing to market clive sinclair s newest inventions . contents 1 history 1.1 founding and early years 1.2 development of the zx80 1.3 commercial success and home computers 1.4 mid 1980s developments 1.5 amstrad acquisition of assets 1.6 spin offs 1.7 return to invention 2 products 2.1 cancelled projects 3 see also 4 references 5 further reading 6 external links history edit profit and turnover data 2 period profit turnover 1980 131k 640k 1981 818k 4.6 m 1982 8.55 m 27.17 m 1983 13.8 m 54.53 m 1984 14.28 m 77.69 m 1985 18m 102m 1988 to 1989 183k 8k 1989 to 1990 618k 5k 1990 to 1991 272k 5k 1991 to 1992 593k 1k 1992 to 1993 169k 380k 1993 to 1994 195k 511k 1994 to 1995 304k 436k 1995 to 1996 123k 256k founding and early years edit see also sinclair radionics on 25 july 1961 clive sinclair founded his first company sinclair radionics ltd. in cambridge . sinclair radionics developed hi fi products radios calculators and scientific instruments . when it became clear that radionics was failing he took steps to ensure that he would be able to continue to pursue his commercial goals in february 1975 he changed the name of ablesdeal ltd. an off the shelf company he bought in september 1973 for just such an eventuality to westminster mail order ltd ; this was changed to sinclair instrument ltd in august 1975 . finding it inconvenient to share control after the national enterprise board became involved in radionics in 1976 sinclair encouraged chris curry who had been working for radionics since 1966 to leave and get sinclair instrument operational . the company s first product was a watch like wrist calculator . development of the zx80 edit in july 1977 sinclair instrument ltd was renamed science of cambridge ltd. around the same time ian williamson showed chris curry a prototype microcomputer based on a national semiconductor sc mp microprocessor and parts from a sinclair calculator . curry was impressed and encouraged sinclair to adopt this as a product . in june 1978 science of cambridge launched the microcomputer in kit form as the mk14 . in may 1979 jim westwood sinclair s chief engineer designed a new microcomputer based on the zilog z80 microprocessor . sinclair instrument ltd introduced this computer as the zx80 in february 1980 as both a kit and ready built . 3 in november 1979 science of cambridge ltd was renamed sinclair computers ltd. commercial success and home computers edit zx spectrum 1982 in march 1981 sinclair computers was renamed sinclair research ltd and the sinclair zx81 was launched . in february 1982 timex corporation obtained a license to manufacture and market sinclair s computers in the usa under the name timex sinclair . in april the zx spectrum was launched . in july timex launched the ts 1000 a version of the zx81 in the united states . in march 1982 sinclair made an 8.55 m profit on turnover of 27.17 m including 383 000 government grants for flat screen . in 1982 clive sinclair converted the barker & wadsworth mineral water bottling factory at 25 willis road cambridge into the company s new headquarters . it was sold to cambridgeshire county council in december 1985 due to sinclair s finance troubles . in january 1983 the zx spectrum personal computer was presented at the las vegas consumer electronics show . in september the sinclair tv80 pocket television was launched but was a commercial failure . in 1983 the company bought milton hall in the village of milton cambridgeshire for 2m establishing their metalab research and development facility there . in late 1983 timex decided to pull out of the timex sinclair venture which had failed to break the united states market as expected due to strong competition . however timex computers continued to be produced for several years in other countries . timex portugal launched improved versions the ts 2048 and 2068 . they also developed and launched the fdd 3000 a floppy disk system that was not well received by the market . mid 1980s developments edit the sinclair ql was announced on 12 january 1984 shortly before the apple macintosh went on sale . 4 it suffered from several design flaws 5 and your sinclair noted that it was difficult to find a good word for sinclair research in the computer press . fully working qls were not available until late summer ; complaints against sinclair regarding delays were upheld by the advertising standards authority in may of the year in 1982 it had upheld complaints about delays in shipping spectrums . especially severe were allegations that it was cashing cheques months before machines were shipped . the ql was nowhere near as successful as sinclair s earlier computers . in the autumn sinclair were still publicly predicting it would be a million seller with 250 000 sold by the end of the year . 6 ql production was suspended in february 1985 and the price was halved by the end of the year . 7 the zx spectrum a repackaged zx spectrum with a ql like keyboard was launched in october 1984 and appeared in w h smith s shops the day after release . retailers stocked the machine in large numbers in expectation of good christmas sales . however the machine did not sell as well as expected ; because retailers still had unsold stock sinclair s income from orders dipped alarmingly in january . the spectrum had the same technical specifications as the original spectrum . however an enhanced model the zx spectrum 128 was launched in spain in september 1985 with development funded by the spanish distributor investronica . 8 the uk launch was delayed until january 1986 due to the large unsold stocks of previous models held by retailers . 9 at the january 1985 las vegas consumer electronics show sinclair re entered the united states market announcing the fm wristwatch radio an lcd wristwatch with a radio attached . 10 however the watch had several usage problems and never went into full production . sinclair had long held an interest in electric vehicles and during the early 1980s he worked on the design of a single seater personal vehicle eventually starting a company called sinclair vehicles ltd in march 1983 . he launched the sinclair c5 electric vehicle on 10 january 1985 . it was a commercial disaster selling only 17 000 units and losing sinclair 7 000 000 with sinclair vehicles going into liquidation later the same year . the c5 combined with the failures of the ql and the tv80 caused investors to lose confidence in sinclair s judgment . amstrad acquisition of assets edit clive sinclair sold the brand name to alan sugar s amstrad in 1986 on 28 may 1985 sinclair research had announced it wanted to raise an extra 10m to 15m to restructure sinclair research . given the loss of confidence in the company this proved hard to find . in june 1985 business magnate robert maxwell announced a takeover of sinclair research through hollis brothers a subsidiary of his pergamon press . 11 however the deal was aborted in august 1985 . 2 the future of sinclair research remained uncertain until 7 april 1986 when the company sold its entire computer product range and the sinclair brand name to amstrad for 5 million . 12 13 this deal did not involve the company merely its name and products . spin offs edit sinclair research was reduced to an r & d business and holding company with shareholdings in several new spin off companies formed to exploit technologies developed by the company . these included anamartic ltd. wafer scale integration shaye communications ltd. ct2 mobile telephony and cambridge computer ltd. z88 portable computer and satellite tv receivers . 2 return to invention edit inventors of the a bike sir clive sinclair and alexander kalogroulis since 1986 the company has continued to exist but in a completely different form . in 1993 1994 and 1995 sinclair made continuing losses on decreasing turnover and began to worry investors since clive sinclair himself was using his own personal wealth to fund his inventions . by 1990 sinclair s entire staff had been reduced to sinclair himself a salesman administrator and an r & d employee . by 1997 only sinclair himself was working at his company . in 1992 the zike electric bicycle was released sinclair s second attempt at changing means of transportation . it had a maximum speed of 10 mph 16 km h and was only available through mail order . the zike was a commercial failure much like the c5 and sold a total of only 2 000 units . in 2003 the sinclair za20 wheelchair drive unit was introduced designed and manufactured in conjunction with hong kong s daka designs a partnership which also led to the seadoo sea scooter underwater propulsion unit . in 1999 sinclair released the world s smallest radio with the z1 micro am radio . on 12 july 2006 the a bike a folding bicycle invented by sinclair was released and went on sale for 200 . it had been originally announced two years previously in 2004 . in november 2010 sinclair research announced 14 the x 1 electric vehicle to be launched in july 2011 in the uk . 15 however the product has yet to launch as of july 2014 . products edit wrist calculator the wrist calculator was released by sinclair instrument in 1977 . 16 mk14 the mk14 microcomputer kit 14 was a computer kit sold by science of cambridge of the united kingdom first introduced in 1977 for uk 39.95 . zx80 the zx80 home computer was launched in february 1980 at 79.95 in kit form and 99.95 ready built . 3 in november of the same year science of cambridge was renamed sinclair computers ltd. timex sinclair 1000 a u.s. version of the sinclair zx81 zx81 the zx81 known as the ts 1000 in the united states was priced at 49.95 in kit form and 69.95 ready built by mail order . zx spectrum 1982 zx spectrum the zx spectrum was launched on 23 april 1982 priced at 125 for the 16 kb ram version and 175 for the 48 kb version . tv80 the tv80 was