I think they were positioning these TRS-80's more for business markets while C64 for the home? That was a mistake obviously as IBM was firmly there already. Same mistake Philips made in Europe with MSX and after that PC. The home market was fine, but making the systems very expensive for the business market was a crap strategy as you could buy an IBM compatible (with horrible graphics/sounds, but he, we are talking business here) for the same price as for instance the 8250 or 8280; why buy the latter?

That went on for Amiga/Atari as well; for the entertainment market (graphics, video, audio and games) these systems were excellent and great value; upping the price with the Amiga 2000 for instance and selling it 'for the business market' was a nail in the coffin.