Kaypro Origin Stories

An essential design concept behind Kay's products has always been to make them compact and portable, for rugged field use, without sacrificing any of the performance and reliability demanded of larger products made strictly for the "bench." Two years ago [1980], it was felt that a computer should be added to the line that met these same field-service requirements and professional standards.

This Project was put in the hands of Andy Kay's son, David. Under his direction, the product eventually developed into the business/personal computer now known as the Kaypro II prtable computer. Like Kay's other products, Kaypro II employs the very latest technology, offers many user benefits, and makes no concessions to larger, bulkier, and more expensive products designed to do the same job.
(Company Background, November 16, 1982)

In the late 1970s, Kay began to see the coming revolution in personal computers. Using Non-Linear's long experience in many areas of electronic technology, R & D efforts were begun to do what many thought was impossible: bundle all the software and hardware the average computer user would need into one package, design it for portability around an office or from home to office and produce it at an affordable price.

...

In June, 1982, the first Kaypros IIs were shipped to an enthusiastic welcome from the trade press, dealers and consumers. In the highly competitive personal computer field, Kaypro managed to sell almost 42,000 units in its first year of production despite one of the lowest allocations for advertising and promoting in the industry. (Kaypro: Thirty Years of Innovative Experience, 1983)

Andy Kay:
Late in 1978 I was on my way to Europe. I stopped off in Boston to talk to some customers. I didn't have time to see Bill McDonald, but talked with him by phone. He was my classmate and had worked for me for five years in the 1950s. While we talked I found out that he was involved in microprocessors attached to milling machines. Before I could ask him if he would come and work for me again, he asked if I had anything for him to do, and I said by all means. He moved west and was onboard by the spring of 1979.
We began to look at what was being developed in microcomputers. We bought some, tore them apart, and I asked, "Can we build these things?" Bill said, "Yeah we can build computers, but where would we sell them?" And that scared me enough that I put this on the back burner. Then in the spring of 1981, I read in Time Magazine that Radio Shack sold 120,000 computers in their first year out. And I said, what have I been waiting two years for? In the meantime, since Bill started working for me again, we had put microprocessors into some of our instrumentation, so we had developed the engineering expertise to build our own computers. I said go.
We had our first unit ready the following year, which we introduced at the West Coast Computer Faire, in San Francisco, in April of 1982.
(Computer Shopper, August 1989)