The computer was a hit. Between 1983 and 1985, ACT sold between 40,000 and 50,000 Apricots a year, a huge amount then and more than anyone else in the U.K., including IBM. It also transformed the company's fortunes. The original Apricot, a design classic, is celebrated in a glass case in London's prestigious Victoria & Albert Museum. At ACT's height, the company threw a gala at the Royal Albert Hall replete with dancing girls, dry ice and thousands of guests. One marketing whiz suggested hiring a Harrier Jump-Jet to pick up a PC in Scotland and zip it straight to London.
"It was a real jamboree," recalls Peter Horne, one of Apricot's early co-founders, and now head of Mitsubishi Electric Corp.'s world-wide PC division. "We couldn't make enough to satisfy demand."