History
1980s
Inside 1984 the Amstrad CPC 464 home computer range was launched in the UK, France, Australia and Germany. It was followed per CPC 664 and CPC 6128 models. "Plus" variants afterwards around a products resides increased their functionality slightly, when building in compatibility using the GX4000, Amstrad's short-lived raid a videos gambling globe.

Inside 1985, the business-orientated Amstrad PCW range was introduced, which were principally word processors running the CP/M operating system & a LocoScript word processing program. A "Amsoft" section of Amstrad was install to provide within-home computer software & consumables. Amstrad briefly entered a video game console business with a GX4000 according to a CPC + devices which failed to catch in.

In April 7, 1986 Amstrad announced it had bought Sinclair Research Ltd, including the ZX Spectrum, for £5 million. It launched ternion newly variants of the Spectrum including a +2, according to a Sinclair ZX Spectrum+ 128K, by owning a built-inherent tape cause (prefer the CPC 464); the +3, by using a built-inbuilt floppy disk drive (similar to a CPC 664 and 6128), ingesting the Trey" disks that many Amstrad machines used, and a completely new motherboard; and the +2A/+2B, using the +3 motherboard in a +2 case with tape drive.

The company produced a range of affordable MS-DOS-based, and later Windows-based personal computers, the first of which was the PC-1512 at £399 in 1986. It was a success, capturing more than 25% of the European computer market. A year later, in 1987, the Amstrad PCW 8512 was released as a computer dedicated to word processing, it was priced at £499. In 1988 Amstrad attempted to make the first affordable portable personal computer with the PPC 512 / 640, introduced a year before the Macintosh Portable, at 8MHz it ran MS-DOS and GEM but had a poor LCD display.

1990s - Present
In the early-1990s Amstrad began to focus on portable computers rather than desktop computers. In 1990 Amstrad tried to enter the gaming market with the Amstrad GX4000, similar to Commodore did at the same time with the C64 and the C64 GS. The console was a commercial failure, becoming less popular because it used 8-bit technology unlike the 16-bit Sega Megadrive and Super Nintendo. In 1993 Amstrad released the PenPad, a PDA similar to the Apple Newton, and released only weeks before it. It was a commercial failure, and had several technical and usability problems. It lacked most features that the Apple Newton included, but had a lower price at $450.

As Amstrad began to concentrate less on computers and more in communication, they purchased several telecommunications businesses including Betacom, Dancall Telecom, Viglen Computers and Dataflex Design Communications during the early 1990s. Amstrad has been a major supplier of set top boxes to UK satellite TV provider Sky since its launch in 1989. In fact, Amstrad was key to the introduction of Sky, as it was the only manufacturer producing decoder boxes and dishes at the system's launch. Amstrad has continued to manufacture set top boxes for Sky, from analogue to digital and now including Sky's Sky+ PVR box.

In 1997, Amstrad supplied set top boxes to Australian broadcaster Foxtel, and in 2004 to Italian broadcaster Sky Italia. In 2000, Amstrad released the first of its combined telephony and e-mail devices, called the e-m@iler. This was followed by the e-m@ilerplus in 2002, and the E3 Videophone in 2004. Amstrad has also produced a variety of home entertainment products over their history, including hi-fis, televisions, VCRs, and DVD players.