Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ncar!mephisto!udel!mmdf
From: mjsagar@sandia.gov (9123 SAGARTZ, MATHIAS J.)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Advertizing misconceptions
Message-ID: <15022@snow-white.udel.EDU>
Date: 26 Mar 90 22:12:41 GMT
Sender: mmdf@udel.EDU
Lines: 57


	The advertizing (or lack of it) that CBM is doing has
claimed a lot of bandwidth.  Rather than help the situation I'm
going to contribute my two cents worth to the confusion.  I've
been watching CBM as a shareholder and amiga owner for over three
years.  My guess is that CBM has not been more agressive in
advertizing because they are not confident that they have their
act together.  As the slogan says, "You never get a second chance
to make a first impression" so CBM needs to be very sure it is
ready to come out of the closet. The new guys in charge are not
hicks.  I believe they want to get things worked around to their
satisfaction before they "go for it." 
	To give you some prespective, you should be aware that a
few years back CBM was in default of certain loan agreements with
its creditors.  They could have pulled the plug at any time and 
CBM would have been forced to declare bankruptcy.  The creditors
decided it was in their best interests to cut CBM some slack and
this proved to be a wise decision.  The company survived by 
cutting expenses to the bone.  That's why you heard so much about 
the lack of support.  There was nobody left to provide it.  As 
things improved the powers at CBM (Irving Gould, Henri Rubin, 
etc.) were very cautious about spending.  Essentially they made 
the least of a bad situation.  Fundamental development of 
software and of the dealer network was neglected.  
	Gould hired the firm of Dillon Reed as a mangement 
consultant to tell him what to do.  Eventually this lead to 
hiring a Dillon Reed guy, Medhi Ali (spelling probably way off)
to run the show.  He convinced Irving that he had to spend some
money and hire some fast track executive types to turn things
around.  Europe as well as the U.S. got a bunch of new talent.
So that's where we stand now.  What follows is my guess as to
how things stand.
	 The dealer network was never developed properly and has
not recovered from the damage done by Jack Tramiel when he went
to mass marketing with the C64 and left the dealers hanging.   I
know from experience that the last thing you want to do in
Albuquerque is to send somebody interested in an Amiga to our one
local dealer (Actually just recently things have taken a turn for
the better, but this was the case for many years.)  Trying to 
read between the lines, I think the big Christmas ad campaign 
was pretty much of a bust.  This showed CBM that, among other 
things, that the dealer network was not ready to deliver.
	The Wall Street Journal carried a column on CBM a few 
months back that shed a little light on things.  Harry Copperman
said that the Amiga at that time was not positioned to be sold as 
a general purpose computer.  He said that the "breadth" of 
applications software needed is not there.  I believe that the 
development process is going on now.  Look for the education 
segment of the market to get some heavy early emphasis (once an 
apple man always an apple man?)  I think that in part the 
very low prices on the educational discount plan are to rapidly 
increase the installed base to help encourage developers.  It's
really a bootstrapping process.  When Harry thinks he's ready you 
should see the kind of advertizing you're looking for.  But with
Commodore you never know.  There's no guarangee that Irving won't
pull another George Steinbrenner and go through the headquarters
screaming "off with thier heads."