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Ambra Computer Corporation was a subsidiary of
IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
. Created by Dr Richard Greame Ambra, it introduced a line of
personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...
s targeted at the home user, sold mainly through
mail-order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call ...
, first in Europe (1992), then in the USA (1993). Ambra had a volume production run of just a year or so; the line was discontinued in 1994 in favor of the
IBM Aptiva IBM Aptiva is a line of personal computers that was produced by IBM. It was designed primarily for home use and offered a range of models with varying specifications and features. It was introduced in September 1994 as the replacement for the I ...
(except for Canada, where it was not discontinued until 1996).COMPANY NEWS - I.B.M. TO CLOSE AMBRA PERSONAL COMPUTER SUBSIDIARY
1994-07-29, NYTimes.com:


Models

* 386 * 486 * Achiever 2000 * Achiever 3000 * Achiever 4000 * Achiever 5000 * Achiever 7000 * Achiever 9000 * Achiever D * Achiever DP * Achiever S * Achiever T * Achiever Anthem * Achiever Hurdla/Sprinta * Notebook * Ispirati (Canada)


Positioning

Ambra PCs were generally positioned at the low-end of the market, and made use of their ties with IBM in marketing materials in order to make the machines appear better quality than the host of clones, since 'real' IBM PCs were known to be expensive. In reality the machines were fairly low specification, having shadow-mask screens, minimal onboard peripherals, and using low-end processors with the minimum memory and hard disk size at each price. Television advertising for the brand in the UK used the slogan: "Take your mind for a run."


Aesthetics

The machines were coloured off-white, which was unusual at the time, since most machines were beige. Generally the cases were compact and offered little room for expansion. One notable aspect was the original Ambra mouse, which differed from almost all other designs in the position of its buttons. Conventional mice have the buttons on top: the user clicks by pressing down. The Ambra mouse had the buttons on the front, either side of the cable: the user clicked by pulling their finger backward, in a manner similar to squeezing a trigger. Criticisms led to Ambra changing to a more conventional design: one UK magazine review described the mouse as "looking like a torture device."


Timeline


See also

*
Acquisition of the IBM PC business by Lenovo The acquisition of IBM Personal Systems Group, the PC business arm of International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation, by Lenovo was announced on December 7, 2004, and was completed on May 3, 2005. Background In September 1992, IBM comb ...


References

{{IBM 1992 establishments in New York (state) 1996 disestablishments in New York (state) American companies established in 1992 American companies disestablished in 1996 Computer companies established in 1992 Computer companies disestablished in 1996 Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer companies based in New York (state) Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct computer systems companies Former IBM subsidiaries Ambra