[Coco] A bit more of CoCo history dies...

[Christian Lesage]

The world changes, and so does the "Shack". I don't know many people who 
will even try to repair their cellular phone when it's broken. It's just 
too small, too integrated to be practical. Replacing a burnt transistor 
in a 1975 hi-fi amplifier is one thing. Troubleshooting a defective 
iPhone, PSP, MP3/4 player, or cellular phone is another... Of course, 
you can identify some obvious problems like a broken audio jack or power 
connector, but what do you do when a BGA chip is fried? In the unlikely 
event that you succeed in pinpointing the exact problem, most often, you 
will have to replace the whole PCB anyway... but you will end up 
replacing the damn device, because they no longer make new PCBs, or 
they're just too expensive compared to the price of newer and better 
devices.

So my point is: The electronic parts market has shrunk, and it's just 
not profitable enough for a nation-wide chain of stores to carry a wide 
range of parts like they used to in the 70s and the 80s, unless they 
focus on this particular market (which means they stop selling 
computers, TVs, DVD players, radios, phones, toys, etc. -- which is I 
guess is a lot more profitable), and close all of their stores but those 
located in 300k+ cities.

By the way, the TRS-80 Model I sold for $599 (4K Level I) in the USA, 
and I don't think it was a "sky high price". Well, of course, it was a 
lot of money back in 1979, but it was also very cheap for a personal 
computer -- an Apple II w/ 4K sold for $1300 in 1977.

Christian