Just as a side note that nicely illustrates how politics may interfere with this, when I got my first Apple II (a II+) it was actually a clone (http://orbita.starmedia.com/~cobit2/propagandas/exato_ago85....). At that time, importing computers to Brazil was prohibited. If I wanted to travel abroad, law mandated strict limits on how much money I could carry and buying an Apple II directly would be impossible. There were alternatives, smugglers that could bring almost anything you wanted, but then it would be a crime...