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From: toddpw@tybalt.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re^2: Apple shoots own foot
Message-ID: <13499@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu>
Date: 22 Jan 90 08:34:26 GMT
References: <281.25b9a6d8@desire.wright.edu>
Sender: news@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu
Organization: California Institute of Technology
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w0033@desire.wright.edu writes:

>The rumors about Apple spinning off the II line into another company (ala
>Claris) has been floating around most of the BBSes in the Dayton area. And most
>of the posts I have seen have been pro-split. Whether or not this would really
>fix anything is hard to tell, but most people seem to think it would help.
>There was one nomination of Steve Wozniak as president of the new company. I

I heard Woz wouldn't do it; after all, he's a hacker, not a manager. One
story went that he had a position in North CA somewhere teaching natural
science and that he loved it too much. (No confirmation on that, though.)

>would guess that the way Appple is handling things that they want the II line
>to die quietly. They have lumped the GS and all II lines together so that the
>high selling GS gets cut down by the lower volume C+ and others. I was looking

This is because Apple's Marketing Department has, for the past few years, not
realized what the Apple // was about. Now that the Mac is standing on its own
they have got to realise that the old brochures are still partly right: If you
want gobs of educational software, long-standing and loyal user groups,
awesome sound (gs), and a low cost non-powerhouse, you want an Apple //. The
original idea was to promote the Mac as the high end business machine, and the
Apple as the Home & Education tradition. However, it seems that many people at
Apple saw the Apple // as a threat to the Mac and as a dying liability, and
Apple's head management is not helping. However, the recent rumors that all
of Apple Marketing got fired are probably overstated, but the point is that
Apple's got to re-position the // so it can co-exist with the Mac. I believe
that this is possible. The fact that it is hackable (On which other machine
can you have a cheap BASIC program up and running within half an hour?) and
that it has a loyal customer base, and that it is still cheaper than the Macs
in spite of Apple's brain dead pricing strategies, are all strong points which
the Mac does not have. Another is the sound chip in the gs, and the cleaner
tool box (not perfect but better). The best of all, believe it or not, is that
the system is still designed around NTSC video and this should hint that the
Apple // has potential for home video applications (the traditional Amiga
market).

HEY APPLE, MAKE A NEW GS (or whatever) THAT BLOWS THE AMIGA AWAY BEFORE THEY
HAVE A CHANCE TO GET A MARKET SHARE!!!

This means a completely new chipset, but I have *NO* objections to that, after
delving into the gs hardware a bit (you DON'T want to know how SHR actually
works. Believe me.)

>at the PC COmputing 500 from a year ago and it showed the GS is the #3 selling
>slot, outselling all the Mac models and many of the IBM clones. Since that time

This is true. However, many people have wanted more power and have had to put
up with PC clones because their budget did not allow for Macs.

>I'm sure sales have slowed thanks to Apple's aniti-II marketing. Why do they
>keep shooting themselves in the foot? If the II line sells, they should
>support it, not kill it.

Because they need to be convinced that they _can_ support it WITHOUT HURTING
THE MAC!!!

(Jerry, could you forward this one? Edit it if you deem that necessary)

Todd Whitesel
toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu