Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!rutgers!cbmvax!cbmehq!cbmger!peterk
From: peterk@cbmger.UUCP (Peter Kittel GERMANY)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: A4000,Lotus,Microsoft,UNIX...
Message-ID: <469@cbmger.UUCP>
Date: 2 Oct 90 16:28:07 GMT
References: <32040@nigel.ee.udel.edu> <1990Oct2.002247.1338@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>
Reply-To: peterk@cbmger.UUCP (Peter Kittel GERMANY)
Organization: Commodore Bueromaschinen GmbH, West Germany
Lines: 48

In article <1990Oct2.002247.1338@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) writes:
>In article <32040@nigel.ee.udel.edu> WHE46@ccvax.iastate.edu (Marc Barrett) writes:
>>
>>   I have some comments about a couple of item from a message containing
>>excerpts from an interview with Helmut Jost of CBM Germany.
>>
>>>AMIGA: How does it look with the competitor Atari?
>>
>>   I wish that all Amiga users (especially those in the US) would forget
>>that Atari even exists, and start concentrating on Apple.  
>>
>	Marc, you should realize that in Germany, where this
>article was written, the Atari is a very strong contender,
>although definitely weakening. Here the Atari (as well as
>Commodore, BTW) are relatively small players in the market. In
>Germany especially the exact opposite is true.

Yes, I can confirm this, at least from the number of devices, Atari is
a strong contender. But for the image, we try to catch up with Apple.
Helmut Jost did say this explicitly in his interview. But normally
Apple is not a big contender here because of their prices. Never in
all the years since their start they could break the dominance of
Commodore here in Germany. (YES, believe that!)
(I always LOVE to tell people that Germany is the real Commodore
Wonderland. Also in the PC area, only I*M can compete with us :-)

>>>Jost: The A500 has by now, by its number of machines on the market, its
>>>own domain. Thus it is - in our oppinion - not necessary to supply the
>>>A500 with a new operating system.
>
>	Marc, two things to consider. The various nations can
>have totally different policies. As an example there is the
>educational discount which is a primarily American policy.

Well, here in Germany we have other forms of educational discount.
It is only for the institutions (schools, universities,...), but 
not for individuals. So it is not so widely spread, sorry.

And talking about policies and A500:
As a fact, A500 and A2000 are MUCH cheaper here! About same price in DM
here as in $ in US, which makes a factor of ca. 1.5. Thus we indeed
have sold MASSES of A500s (and also many A2000s) here, surely a
manyfold of those in US. And that is a reasonable base that must be
considered.

-- 
Best regards, Dr. Peter Kittel  // E-Mail to  \\  Only my personal opinions... 
Commodore Frankfurt, Germany  \X/ {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!cbmger!peterk