APF Electronics Inc.

APF Electronics, Inc. was a publicly traded company in the United States dedicated to consumer electronics. The company's name comes from the initials of the two brothers who founded the company, Al & Phil Friedman.[1]

APF Electronics, Inc.
IndustryConsumer electronics, video games
HeadquartersQueens, NY
Key people
Al Friedman, Phil Friedman, Ed Smith, Steve Lipper, Harry Cox, Howard Boylen, Kenny Boylen

History

The company was founded to import stereos from Japan to the U.S., specifically quadraphonic sets and 8-track player. They moved into calculators.[2]

APF had locations in Queens, NY where they were headquartered, and in Hong Kong, where they owned a factory. In all, APF employed 300 people.[2]

Products
The APF MP1000 was the company's second game console, released in 1978.

APF marketed calculators in the early 1970s. Models such as the Mark III and Mark V had LED displays and used C batteries.[3]

APF TV Fun was a series of classic first generation video game consoles. It is one of the first system based on the common AY-3-8500 chipset from General Instruments. There are TV Fun Model 401A and TV Fun Sportsarama. The series was first available in 1976.[4]

APF-MP1000, also called M-1000, was a second generation video game console released in 1978 at a price of $130 (~$583.00 in 2022).[5] Twelve cartridges were released in addition to the built-in game Rocket Patrol.

An APF calculator.

APF PeCos One was a computer system released in 1978.[6] The name stood for "Personal Computing System." It came equipped with two built-in tape drives[7] and a monitor. Instead of using BASIC it used a proprietary language called PeCos 1.[8]

APF Imagination Machine was a computer module released in 1979 for $599 (~$2,415 in 2022). When combined with the M-1000 console it became a computer. The module added RAM, BASIC, a 53-key typewriter keyboard, and a dual-track cassette tape deck with 1500 baud rate for digitally recorded tape programs. The specifications were the result of reverse engineering several popular computers at the time.[2]

APF Mathemagician is a tabletop handheld calculator game released in 1980. By itself, it's a math learning tool and standard calculator, but it has 6 different overlays that convert it into one of several games.[9]

APF Imagination Machine II was a computer-video game console hybrid that was in the final development stages around 1983. It was more powerful and was an all-in-one unit. The project was cancelled. It is unknown if any prototypes exist.[2]

Bankruptcy

The video game crash of 1983 caused the APF Imagination Machine II project to be cancelled and APF, by then a publicly traded company, filed for bankruptcy.[2]

References
  1. "APF Electronics Inc". Old Apps. oldapps.com. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  2. "APF Page".
  3. "APF". Vintage Calculators Web Museum. vintagecalculators.com. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  4. "Museum of Video Games - APF Electronics Inc". Museum of Video Games. MoVG. Archived from the original on July 5, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  5. "Tag Archives: APF Electronic Inc". Gamester81. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  6. PeCos One. 1978. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  7. "Company Profile: APF Electronics Inc. (New York, N.Y.)". Classic Tech: Vintage computers and related technology. Archived from the original on February 21, 2014.
  8. Loguidice, Bill. "Home Computer Designations of the Late 1970s: A Feature Article". Armchair Arcade. Archived from the original on February 19, 2014. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  9. "APF Mathemagician". Handheld Museum. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
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