Editing Acorn Electron (section)

===Production and volume delivery===
Production difficulties at [[Astec]] in Malaysia delayed the machine's introduction, forcing Acorn to look to other manufacturers such as AB Electronics in Wales and Wongs in Hong Kong (an original equipment manufacturer making over 30 million circuit boards a year, along with power supplies and plastic housings, for companies such as [[IBM]], [[Xerox]], [[Atari]], and [[Apple Inc.|Apple]], including units made for Acorn for the BBC Micro<ref name="popcompweekly19831201">{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-12-01/page/n14/mode/1up | title=Go east young man | work=Popular Computing Weekly | last1=Kelly | first1=David | date=1 December 1983 | access-date=30 March 2021 | page=15 }}</ref>). By October 1983, Acorn had received orders for more than 150,000 units, but had production targets of only 25,000 a month before Christmas, meaning that the existing backlog would take more than six months to fulfil. Demand for the Electron was high but only two of [[WH Smith]]'s London branches had inventory.<ref name="popcompweekly19831110">{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1983-11-10/mode/1up | title=Acorn shoots itself in foot | work=Popular Computing Weekly | date=10 November 1983 | access-date=30 December 2020 | pages=1, 5 }}</ref> Ultimately, manufacturing in Malaysia ceased with the anticipated but unspecified number of units having been produced,<ref name="electronuser198405a">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume1/Electron_User_01-08/page/n7/mode/1up | title=No close-down | magazine=Electron User | date=May 1984 | access-date=14 January 2021 | page=8 }}</ref> this having been originally reported as 100,000 units.<ref name="electronuser198311a">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume1/Electron_User_01-02/page/n2/mode/1up | title=Production rate is doubled | magazine=Electron User | volume=1 | issue=2 | date=November 1983 | access-date=20 January 2021 | page=3 }}</ref> Acorn's marketing manager, Tom Hohenberg, admitted in early 1984 that "a lot of the trouble stemmed from the ULA" in getting production to the desired levels,<ref name="electronuser198405">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume1/Electron_User_01-08/page/n6/mode/1up | title=Deliveries improve | magazine=Electron User | date=May 1984 | access-date=14 January 2021 | page=7 }}</ref> but that such difficulties had been resolved, although Acorn faced an order backlog of almost a quarter of a million units.<ref name="electronuser198404">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume1/Electron_User_01-07/page/n4/mode/1up | title=Production problems still dog Acorn | magazine=Electron User | date=April 1984 | access-date=14 January 2021 | page=5 }}</ref>

As the company increased production during 1984, however, the British home computer market greatly weakened. Hohenberg later noted that after the 1983 Christmas season, Electron deliveries had increased to meet a demand that was no longer there, with the market having "completely dried up".<ref name="retrogamer57">{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/retro_gamer/RetroGamer_057/page/36/mode/2up | title=Retroinspection: Acorn Electron | work=Retro Gamer | issue=57 | last1=Goodwin | first1=Stuart | pages=36–41 }}</ref>{{rp|page=39|quote="We had this warehouse in Wellingborough," Hohenberg recalls. "Before Christmas, the trucks were lining up at one end wanting to take the few Electrons we had away to stores, but now the trucks were all at the other end, delivering, and the market had completely dried up. Seeing Electrons piled floor to ceiling... it was very depressing."}} Acorn's Christmas 1984 sales were greatly below expectations and by March 1985 the company had reduced the Electron's price to £129.<ref name="electronuser198503a">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume2/Electron-User-02-06/page/n4/mode/1up | title=Acorn slashes price of Electron by £70 | magazine=Electron User | volume=2 | issue=6 | date=March 1985 | access-date=15 January 2021 | page=5 }}</ref> With the company's unsuccessful expansion into the United States abandoned,<ref name="electronuser198502a">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume2/Electron-User-02-05/page/n6/mode/1up | title=American operation takes a £6m blow | magazine=Electron User | volume=2 | issue=5 | date=February 1985 | access-date=15 January 2021 | page=7 }}</ref> Acorn's financial situation had deteriorated sufficiently to prompt [[Olivetti]] to rescue the company by taking a 49.30% ownership stake.<ref name="electronuser198504">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume2/Electron-User-02-07/page/n4/mode/1up | title=New-look Acorn attacks on four fronts | magazine=Electron User | volume=2 | issue=7 | date=April 1985 | access-date=15 January 2021 | page=5 }}</ref> Renewed efforts were made to sell the machine, bundling it with Acorn's own expansions and software, such as one package adding the Plus 1 expansion, joysticks and a ROM cartridge game to the base machine for a total price of £219.<ref name="electronuser198504a">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume2/Electron-User-02-07/page/n4/mode/1up | title=Electron not to be axed - and that is official | magazine=Electron User | volume=2 | issue=7 | date=April 1985 | access-date=15 January 2021 | page=5 }}</ref> Acorn committed to supporting the machine "until the end of 1986", continuing to supply it (as the Merlin M2105) to British Telecom as part of the Healthnet communications system, with small-scale manufacturing continuing while existing stocks were being run down.<ref name="acornuser198505a">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser034-May85/page/n10/mode/1up | title=Electron marches on | magazine=Acorn User | date=May 1985 | access-date=23 January 2021 | page=9 }}</ref>

By autumn, retailers appeared eager to discount the computer, with prices in stores as low as £100, reportedly less than the distributor prices of the summer months.<ref name="electronuser198509">{{cite magazine| url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume2/Electron-User-02-12/page/n4/mode/1up | title=Great sale is on | magazine=Electron User | volume=2 | issue=12 | date=September 1985 | access-date=15 January 2021 | page=5 }}</ref> As the Christmas season approached, [[Dixons Retail]] acquired the remaining Electron inventory to sell, bundled with a [[cassette recorder]] and software, at a retail price of £99.95.<ref name="electronuser198511">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume3/Electron-User-03-02/page/n4/mode/1up | title=Dixons in pre-Xmas coup | magazine=Electron User | volume=3 | issue=2 | date=November 1985 | access-date=15 January 2021 | page=5 }}</ref> This deal, from the perspective of a year later, apparently played a significant part in helping to reduce Acorn's unsold inventory from a value of £18&nbsp;million to around £7.9&nbsp;million, and in combination with "streamlining corporate activities and reducing overheads", had helped to reduce Acorn's losses from over £20&nbsp;million to less than £3&nbsp;million.<ref name="electronuser198606_bacon">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume3/Electron-User-03-09/page/n4/mode/1up | title=Electron sales saved Acorn's bacon | magazine=Electron User | date=June 1986 | access-date=18 October 2021 | volume=3 | issue=9 | pages=5, 7 }}</ref>

The deal effectively brought to an end Acorn's interest in the Electron and the lower-cost end of the home computing market, but empowered third-party suppliers whose "inventiveness and initiative" was noted as being in contrast with Acorn's lack of interest in the product and the "false promises" made to its users.<ref name="electronuser198805mm">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume5/Electron-User-05-08/page/n54/mode/1up | title=The micro that outgrew Acorn | magazine=Electron User | volume=5 | issue=8 | date=May 1988 | access-date=23 January 2021 | last1=Dunkerley | first1=T. | pages=55–56 }}</ref> However, Acorn subsequently released the Master Compact{{snd}} a model in the [[BBC Master|Master series]] of microcomputers with fewer BBC Micro-style ports and a similar expansion connector to that used by the Electron{{snd}} with the home audience specifically in mind.<ref name="acornuser198610">{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser051-Oct86/page/n7/mode/2up |magazine=Acorn User |title=Acorn gives birth to Master Compact |date=October 1986 |access-date=4 September 2020 |page=7 |quote=Acorn's philosophy is to aim the Compact at the home environment with parents buying a computer that their children can 'grow' into.}}</ref> Indeed, prior to its release, the Master Compact had been perceived as the successor to the Electron.<ref name="electronuser198609_brother">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronUserVolume3/Electron-User-03-12/page/n4/mode/1up | title=Electron's big brother is due any day now | magazine=Electron User | volume=3 | issue=12 | date=September 1986 | access-date=17 January 2021 | page=5 }}</ref> Superficial similarities between the Compact and [[Acorn Communicator]], together with technical similarities between the Electron (particularly when expanded in the form of the Merlin M2105) and the Communicator, may also have driven rumours of an updated Electron model.<ref name="electronuser198606" /> A more substantial emphasis on the "home, music and hobby sectors" came with the appointment of a dedicated marketing manager in 1989 following the launch of the BBC A3000 in the [[Acorn Archimedes]] range.<ref name="acornuser198909">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser085-Aug89/page/n10/mode/1up | title=New BBC home service | magazine=Acorn User | date=September 1989 | access-date=1 November 2020 | pages=7 }}</ref>