Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mailrus!ames!sun-barr!newstop!sun!imagen!atari!portal!portal!cup.portal.com!Bob_BobR_Retelle From: Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Atari Financial condition Message-ID: <28271@cup.portal.com> Date: 25 Mar 90 08:25:28 GMT References: <5780002@acf5.NYU.EDU> Organization: The Portal System (TM) Lines: 34 Interesting stuff... Just a couple of comments... Atari *can't* improve the battery life in the STACEY, so they'd decided to DROP battery power altogether. The computer will be a "transportable" versi of the ST, but you'll need an AC power outlet nearby to use it. A third-party developer is working on a "gel-cell" battery for the STACEY, bu it's going to be a LARGE unit that you'll snap your STACEY into, and it will cost several hundred dollars. The MEGA line may or may not have "E" style graphics and sound... Atari only informally asked developers how they'd feel about a MEGA with STe style features. IF Atari did decide to produce such a unit, it likely wouldn't hit the market for several years (based on past performance). The Portfolio may be selling well (by whose standards?) to people who have a lot of money to spend on toys of limited usefulness, but I'd like to see some sales-figures comparisons between the Portfolio and truly useful mini-sized MS-DOS compatibles like the Toshiba line. The 520ST already *had* its opportunity to "take over the cheap computer market", FIVE YEARS ago, and Atari blew its technological lead. Now, I see people buying $299 IBM PC clones from Radio Shack. It doesn't matter that the ST is technologically superior, if the buying public has never heard of them. As for the comment that "it seems clear that Atari is entering a new product cycle"... Atari is *ALWAYS* entering a "new product cycle".. Real Soon Now, Second Quarter, by the End of the Year... perhaps Wall Street has caught onto Atari's "Boy who cried Wolf" tactics..? BobR