Coleco (1932 - 1989) was a company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as "Connecticut Leather Company". It became a highly successful toy company in the 1980s, known for its mass-produced version of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and, to a lesser extent, its video game consoles, the Coleco Telstar and ColecoVision. Cabbage Patch Kids are a doll brand created by Debbie Morehead and Xavier Roberts in 1978 The ColecoVision is Coleco Industries ' second generation home Video game console and was released in August.
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History
Coleco originally sold leather supplies to shoemakers. This led to a business in leather craft kits in the 1950s which led to the sale of plastic wading pools in the 1960s. Leather crafting is the practice of making Leather into craft objects or works of art using shaping techniques coloring techniques or both The leather part of the business was then sold off.
Under CEO Arnold Greenberg, the company entered the video game console business with the Telstar in 1976. Arnold Greenberg is an American Businessman best known as the CEO of Coleco in the 1970s and 1980s Dozens of companies were introducing game systems that year after Atari's successful Pong console. Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. Pong is a first generation Video game released originally as a Coin -operated Arcade game by Atari Inc Nearly all of these new games were based on General Instrument's "Pong-on-a-chip". General Instrument (GI was an Electronics Manufacturer based in Chicago, IL specializing in Semiconductors and Cable television However, General Instrument had underestimated demand, and there were severe shortages. Coleco had been one of the first to place an order, and was one of the few companies to receive an order in full. Though dedicated game consoles did not last long on the market, their early order enabled Coleco to break even. In Economics, specifically Cost accounting, the break-even point (BEP is the point at which cost or expenses and revenue are equal there is no net loss or gain
Coleco continued to do well in electronics. They transitioned next into handheld electronic games, a market popularized by Mattel. Handheld electronic games are very small portable devices for playing interactive Games often miniaturized versions of Video games Mattel Inc ( is the world's largest Toy importing company based on revenue Coleco produced two very popular lines of games, the "head to head" series of two player sports games, (Football, Baseball, Basketball, Soccer, Hockey) and the mini-arcade series of licensed video arcade titles such as Donkey Kong and Ms. Pacman. [1]
Coleco returned to the video game console market in 1982 with the launch of the ColecoVision. The ColecoVision is Coleco Industries ' second generation home Video game console and was released in August. While the system was quite popular, Coleco hedged their bet on video games by introducing a line of cartridges for the Atari 2600 and Intellivision. In various types of electronic equipment a cartridge can refer one method of adding different functionality or content (e The Atari 2600 is a Video game console released in October 1977 The Intellivision is a Video game console released by Mattel in 1979. They also introduced the Coleco Gemini, a clone of the popular Atari 2600. The Coleco Gemini was an Atari 2600 clone manufactured by Coleco.
When the video game business began to implode in 1983, it seemed clear that video game consoles were being supplanted by home computers. The North American video game crash of 1983 (sometimes known as the video game crash of 1984 because it was in that year that the full effects of the crash became apparent A home computer was a class of Personal computer entering the market in 1977 and becoming common during the 1980s Coleco's strategy was to introduce the Coleco Adam home computer, both as a stand-alone system and as an expansion module to the ColecoVision. The Coleco Adam was a Home computer, an attempt in the early 1980s by American toy manufacturer Coleco to follow on the success of its ColecoVision This effort failed, in large part because Adams were often unreliable. The Adam flopped; Coleco withdrew from electronics early in 1985.
Also in 1983, Coleco released the Cabbage Patch Kids series of dolls which were wildly successful. Cabbage Patch Kids are a doll brand created by Debbie Morehead and Xavier Roberts in 1978 In 1986, they introduced an ALF plush based on the furry alien character who had his own television series at the time, as well as a talking version and a cassette-playing "Storytelling ALF" doll. ALF is a half-hour American Television Sitcom that originally ran on NBC from 1986 to 1990 and was created by Paul Fusco The staggering success of the dolls[which?] could not stem the tide of red ink that had begun with the launch of the Adam computer. In 1988, the company filed for bankruptcy.
The reorganized Coleco sold off all of its North American assets and outsourced thousands of jobs to foreign countries, closing plants in Amsterdam, New York and other cities. Amsterdam New York is the name of two locations in Montgomery County New York Amsterdam (city New York Amsterdam (town New York In 1989, Hasbro purchased Coleco's assets. Hasbro ( is an American Toy company It is one of the largest toy makers in the world second only to the toy giant Mattel. [1]
In 2005, River West Brands, a Chicago-based brand revitalization company, re-introduced Coleco to the marketplace. A brand is a collection of Images and ideas representing an economic producer more specifically it refers to the descriptive verbal attributes and concrete symbols such as a In late 2006, they introduced the Coleco Sonic, a handheld system containing twenty Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear games. The Coleco Sonic is a Handheld game console released in 2006 by Coleco, also marketed as PlayPal in Canada and Pocket Gear in The Sega Master System is an 8-bit cartridge-based Video game console that was manufactured by Sega and was first released in 1986. The Sega Game Gear is a Handheld game console which was Sega 's response to Nintendo 's Game Boy.
Coleco in popular culture
- On The Simpsons episode "Lisa Gets an "A"", the ever unsuccessful salesman Gil tries to unload all his old Coleco Adams on Springfield Elementary School, before exclaiming "Now, let's talk rust-proofing. " Lisa Gets an 'A' " is the seventh episode of The Simpsons ' tenth season. The following is a list of Recurring characters in The Simpsons. Springfield Elementary School is a fictional school on The Simpsons, attended by Bart Simpson, Lisa Simpson and other Springfieldian children These Colecos'll rust up on ya like that! Shut up, Gil, close the deal!".
- During the South Park episode "Chickenpox", Kenny's father states, "We got a ColecoVision hooked up to the black and white TV"; to the puzzlement of his friends. South Park is an animated American television comedy series created and written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for Comedy Central " Chickenpox " is the 23rd episode of Comedy Central 's animated series South Park. Kyle went far enough as to say: "Oh my god, this is like a third-world country. "
- A track is named "Coleco Vision" on the album Man Overboard by Canadian rapper Buck 65. Man Overboard is a 1999 album by Buck 65. Originally released on the Anticon Richard Terfry, better known as Buck 65, is a Canadian hip hop artist MC and Turntablist.
- The name of Gameavision, the game company featured in the G4 animated series Code Monkeys, was inspired by Coleco's name combination and former business, originally standing for Georgia Meat Division. For the phrase on which this program's title is based see Code monkey. [2] Corporate rival Bellecovision is committed only to profit at the expense of its harried staff.
See also
References
- ^ Hasbro's Purchase Of Coleco's Assets. Electronic Quarterback was a Handheld electronic game made by Coleco in 1978. Sectaurs Warriors of Symbion was a line of action figures released by Coleco in 1984. Starcom The US Space Force is an animated syndicated series in the 1980s that spawned a successful Motorized Toy line franchise in Europe and Telstar Combat! is an early dedicated Video game console released by Coleco in 1977, as one of many units in Coleco's Telstar series of dedicated New York Times (1989). Retrieved on November 13, 2006.
- ^ http://www.g4tv.com/gameavision/aboutus.html history page
External links
- www.coleco.com River West Brands' Coleco product page
- Article at The Dot Eaters, a history of Coleco and the ColecoVision products
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