Batteries Included was a computer software and hardware company based in the Toronto area. It developed products for the

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, and MS-DOS. The company was best known in the 1980s for its popular PaperClip word processor, which was available for the Atari 8-bit family and Commodore 64. Batteries Included was acquired by Electronic Arts in 1987.

History

Batteries Included was founded by siblings Alan Krofchick, Robbie Krofchick and Marcie Swartz in 1978 as a calculator and personal computer retail store. The hand-held electronic devices they sold were always advertised as "batteries not included," so they included the batteries for free and named themselves Batteries Included. The company began to develop its own computer software and hardware and became a multimillion-dollar multi-faceted company, charging its way into the international computer software and accessory market.

Michael Reichmann Michael H. Reichmann (25 June 1944 – 18 May 2016), better known by his monogram MR, was a Canadian landscape, travel and street fine-arts photographer, as well as videographer, author, blogger, workshopper, independent technical consultan ...

joined the company in its early years and eventually became its president in the mid-1980s. The company's first retail location was established at Village by the Grange, (109 McCaul St, Toronto, ON). Head offices were later re-located to 30 Mural Street in Richmond Hill, Ontario. The company also had a satellite office in California. At its peak, BI employed over 60 people. Batteries Included was purchased by Electronic Arts in 1987, which cancelled most of its upcoming projects but continued to market products under the Batteries Included name.

Products

PaperClip

PaperClip, the company's flagship product, was first released for the Commodore PET in 1982, and later for the

and

systems. The word processor was developed by Steve Douglas who formed a relationship with Batteries Included owners Robbie and Alan Krofchick through the retail store. PaperClip became one of the highest selling home management programs, reaching No. 1 on "Billboard's Top Computer Software" chart and spending over 70 weeks on the charts. In 1986, Batteries Included released PaperClip II for the

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. PaperClip III was released by Electronic Arts in 1987, following its acquisition of Batteries Included. Later Gold Disk released desktop publishing application PaperClip Publisher.

HomePak

In 1984, Batteries Included released the integrated software suite

HomePak HomePak, published in 1984 by Batteries Included, is an integrated application written for the Atari 8-bit family and ported to the Commodore 64, Commodore 128, IBM PCjr, and Apple II. It includes a word processor (HomeText), database (HomeFind), ...

, combining word-processor, database and communications modules into one application.

Product listing

* PaperClip – word processor * PaperClip II – word processor * Delphi's Oracle (later The Consultant) – database *

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– IEEE interface card * Bus Card II – IEEE interface card *

– office suite *B.I.-80 80-column display card (for

C64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness Wo ...

only) * I*S Talk - a full-featured GEM-based telecommunications program * Isgur Portfolio System - an investment management programPortfolio Management: Editor's Choice: The ISGUR Portfolio System
By Nancy Gill, PC Mag, 15 Apr 1986, Page 217 * BTS The Spreadsheet - spreadsheet programSpelling Aid Works With ST GEM Programs
By Scott Mace, InfoWorld, 16 Jun 1986, Page 19 * TimeLink - an electronic diary program for planning and record-keeping * I*S Time and Billing - a professional office administration program * B/GRAPH Elite - a graphics/charting and statistical analysis package For the

: *'' DEGAS'' – bitmap painting application *'' DEGAS Elite'' *''Thunder! The writer's Assistant'' - spellchecker

References

{{reflist Companies based in Richmond Hill, Ontario Defunct software companies of Canada Electronic Arts