>I don't even think it happened in the USA to the same degree that it did in the UK, thanks to Sir Clive Sinclair's ability to deliver cheap but serviceable and completely hackable units to even modest British homes.
I often hear this from UK people, but as someone from the US who is now in his 50s, I can assure you that the US also had a vibrant 8-bit scene in the the 1980s, just with different machines. Ours focused on the Apple ][ (and its many clones many of questionable legality like the Franklin Ace) and the Commodore 64, with smaller communities focused on the Atari 400/800 and the several incompatible TRS-80 computers put out by Radio Shack. There was even an attempt to bring in Sinclair's machines (the ZX-81 and ZX-Spectrum) through Timex, but they did comparatively poorly as the US market was pretty full.
I'm an American myself, and I grew up in that era. The Apple II was a pricey machine, which enjoyed popularity in schools (who got steep discounts from Apple), but it was nowhere near as widely accepted in the home as the Sinclair machines were. The other major competitors (TRS-80, etc.) were not much better. By contrast the ZX Spectrum was so cheap and plentiful that the C64 was considered one of the more expensive options in Blighty. Due to this and some cultural differences (America being a bit more of a "consume product" culture and the UK being a bit more "make do with what you've got"), the Spectrum was host to considerable innovation, even from bedroom programmers.
The Timex Sinclair line did trigger something of a mid-80s pricing war, yielding cheap but low-spec machines like the TRS-80 MC-10, the cancelled TI-99/2, the Mattel Aquarius, and the Commodore 16. But only the Commodore gained any traction as far as I'm aware, and only it could rival the Spectrum in terms of capability (but not in ubiquity).
Timex was quite famous in the Iberian Penisula during the early ZX Spectrum 48K days, because they had a factory close to Lisbon, and somehow they used to sell models locally as well, which now in retrospect it was a gray market thing, as they were supposed to export all of them.
So many of us during those early 8 bit days, could get those cheaper clones instead of the real Sinclair ones.
I think you miss the point. The models you mention were not something my parents would (or could, maybe) buy. I wouldn't even dare asking if we could get an Apple. The Sinclair units were something we could afford and within budget.
I often hear this from UK people, but as someone from the US who is now in his 50s, I can assure you that the US also had a vibrant 8-bit scene in the the 1980s, just with different machines. Ours focused on the Apple ][ (and its many clones many of questionable legality like the Franklin Ace) and the Commodore 64, with smaller communities focused on the Atari 400/800 and the several incompatible TRS-80 computers put out by Radio Shack. There was even an attempt to bring in Sinclair's machines (the ZX-81 and ZX-Spectrum) through Timex, but they did comparatively poorly as the US market was pretty full.