European office
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Kicking off an aggressive campaign of international exposure, Kaypro participated in Micro Expo '83, a major computer trade show held in Paris. Located at the entrance at the show, and with the biggest booth physically, Kaypro attracted huge amounts of attention.
What particularly impressed the Europeans were the keyboards designed for their specific languages, French, German, and Spanish, complete with accent marks. Kaypro is one the first major manufacturers of microcomputers to showcase foreign keyboards. The amber screen, soon to be required by Germany, was available, as were translated user's guides and promotional material. A Swedish keyboard also being developed.
Micro Expo was sponsored by SYBEX, a computer book publishing company headquartered in France, and ran June 14-18. David Kay, vice-president of marketing, and Henry Hester, promotions manager, "worked the booth" along with Jim Novack and Art Tonnaer. Over 50 prospective dealers in France alone were interviewed.
The Paris show is only the most visible part of an intense effort by our International Sales dept. to plant Kaypro firmly in Europe. Americans aren't the only ones caught up the computer craze! Art Tonnaer, Int'l Marketing Manager, has just returned from establishing our Kaypro Europe office. It will be in Maastricht, a town in Holland near the German-Belgian border.
PartsBank International, B.V. is the bonded warehouse where Kaypros will be stored waiting distribution to dealers throughout Europe. Being bonded means that no custom duties are paid till the merchandise leaves the warehouse. PartsBank takes care of all of the shipping details, and all of the paperwork. Tentative plans are to ship one 40' container load (approx. 500 computers) a month, and more as needed, this year and 3-4 loads per month in 1984.
An "international kit" will be available in August for U.S. dealers. It will include a foreign-language keyboard, two EPROMSs, a translated software package, brochures, and a foreign electrical plug.
(CommuniKay, August 1983>
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In the hope of establishing a firm foothold on the European market, the relatively young US Kaypro Corporation has introduced the portables Kaypro II, 4 and 10 range of portable microcomputers with a storage capacity of up to 10 Mbytes. The quality and price/performance ratio of these products has already been endorsed by the experts when they named the Kaypro II "the portable of 1983", an award which caused great satisfaction at both the corporation's headquarters in Solana Beach (California) and its European office in Maastricht (Holland). ...
Every Kaypro machine shipped to Europe has been adapted to conform to European standards and undergoes a final quality test at the company's European centre. All models run CP/M, which was also specially adapted for Europe. Should any Kaypro computer ever develop a problem, it would be handled by National Advanced Systems (NAS), a company signed up by Kaypro to handle service throughout Europe. All spare parts are kept in a storage centre in Schiphol (Netherlands). Within the warranty period of six months, NAS charges all the costs to Kaypro, afterwards, however, these are based on time and materials used. ...
According to Albert Bausch, managing director of Kaypro's European operation, the software and manuals are already available in French, German and Spanish versions with translations for the UK, Italy and some of the Scandinavian markets to come early in 1984. ...
Much of Kaypro's initial success was due to Andrew Kays' personality. He knows most of his 1200 US dealers personally. They grew with him and regard him as a friend. The Kays are hoping to establish the same kind of relationship with their specialist dealers in Europe. The European dealer network is being created under the motto "partnership". The commitment to the European market is reflected in Kaypro's decision to establish manufacturing facilites at its Dutch base. Mr Bausch explains: "We will begin assembly of European versions in June this year. We intend to be a European company."
(ECE?, Vol 2, No 3) (It appears to be a European based magazine from the ads around the article.)
"Some Kaypro 4s and Kaypro 10s had amber screens instead of green screens. A lot of the ones we made for Europe, because I think Scandinavia required amber screens."
(Interview with Marshall Mosley)