Atari 800 vs. Commodore 64 – The Brief Tale of Two 8-Bit Home Computers

However, after the chips were completed, several Commodore engineers disagreed with the project’s direction, insisting that the company should instead develop a successor to the VIC-20, Commodore’s low-cost computer, not a console. Commodore CEO Jack Tramiel opted to go ahead with both projects, however he insisted the computer come with 64 kilobytes of RAM in order to make business applications more practical than they were on the memory-starved VIC-20. Launched in Japan in early 1982, Commodore promoted an upcoming North American release of the Max Machine – but it never happened, with Commodore, concerned by poor Japanese sales, deciding instead to keep the VIC-20 as its low-cost offering, and restrict the enhanced features provided by its new chips to the Commodore 64.

Source: paleotronic.com