Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!know!daemon From: ai065@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Thomas Hill) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: The Death Of Atari? :) Message-ID: <30128@know.pws.bull.com> Date: 17 Jun 91 14:03:18 GMT Sender: daemon@pws.bulL.com Lines: 164 What follows is a series of messages from the Atari UseNet SIG. They represent the down hill trend at Atari right now. While thumbing through the Atari messages I was taken by the number of "For Sale" messages being posted. Read into this what you will. Also, if any of you Mac users think Atari and Commodore activity has always been about the same level, I would suggest you go to the few Atari SIGs for a quick look, then go to the Amiga SIG (# 5) and take a quick look around all those special interest SIGs within it. Things are hopping at Commodore these days. Things at Atari are...Well, let's let the Atari message traffic speak for it's self. I'd also like to mention to my fellow Amiga users out there what this could mean to Commodore. With Atari out of the picture Commodore would be by it's self in the < $1000 market. With the recent rush of Atari users switching to the Amiga, this "rush" could soon turn into a flood. Article #28178 (28194 is last): From: grahamt@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Graham S Thomas) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: How is Atari doing in Europe? Date: Sat Jun 15 12:16:14 1991 From article <1991Jun14.010821.9903@noose.ecn.purdue.edu>, by yegerleh@vivaldi.ecn.purdue.edu (James D Yegerlehner): > I don't think Atari is making much of a splash over here (yet?) > with the new STEs and TTs, but can any of you guys over in Europe > say how the new machines are being received there? Is Atari > maintaining the significant market share that it once had? I'm fairly sure Atari's market share in the UK is declining. Most STs here have been sold as games machines, and judging from the relative amounts of software in the shops and the number and thickness of magazines on the newsstands, the Amiga's winning hands down in that arena. Anything else has been niche marketing. The TT is more expensive here than in some other countries, partly because Atari don't expect to sell many. The Mega STE hasn't even been released here yet - it's just been delayed even further until the beginning of July. Atari are still selling a fair number of STFMs (still!) and STEs, and the existing number of installed machines means that games and music software will continue to be produced here, along with the occasional non-games product. Also, Atari UK have started to advertise the ST as a 'serious' computer again. But, in my opinion, it's too little, too late. The best is not yet to come. Graham -- Graham Thomas, SPRU, Mantell Building, U of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RF, UK Email: grahamt@syma.sussex.ac.uk Phone: +44 273 678165 Fax: .. 685865 [END] Tom Article #28059 (28194 is last): Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st From: cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Christopher M Mauritz) Subject: Re: Atari selling Taiwan plant Reply-To: cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Christopher M Mauritz) Date: Tue Jun 11 09:15:03 1991 In article steve@thelake.mn.org (Steve Yelvington) writes: >The Wall Street Journal reports that Atari Corp. is selling its assembly >plant in Taiwan for $60 million (and collecting an unspecified profit on >the transaction) and will shift the work to subcontractors in Taiwan and >Hong Kong. The article quotes an unnamed Atari spokesman as saying that >the company lost $2 million in the first quarter because of problems in >assembling ``a newer product line'' at the Taiwan facility. Just to play devils advocate for a moment , do you think they really sold the plant because of these "assembly problems" or do you think it was because they needed the cash to buy back some of their debt? Cheers, Chris --------------+---------------------------------------------------------- Chris Mauritz | Cuba's *superior* human rights record is only part of the | answer; it's superior social conditions are another. [END] Tom Article #28193 (28194 is last): From: Scott the Great Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Erie PA show cancelled Date: Sun Jun 16 14:38:11 1991 In article <1991Jun15.163340.8733@kodak.kodak.com>, nelson@cygnus.Kodak.COM (Bruce D. Nelson) says: > >The Spectrum Group of Erie just informed me that their Atari show >scheduled for June 29-30 in Erie, PA has been cancelled due to lack >of interest on the part of vendors, developers, and Atari. > >-- >Bruce Nelson | Phone: (716) 726-7890 >Rochester Distributed Computer Services | Internet: nelson@kodak.com >Eastman Kodak Company | >Rochester, NY 14653-5221 | I was planning on attending, oh well. I think it's time to throw in the towel here. It's been a fun but frustrating 10 years since I bought my 800, and 5 since I bought my ST, but I give up on the TT. Only God knows what I'll buy next though... Scott Le Grand aka sml108@psuvm.psu.edu [END] Tom Article #27950 (28194 is last): Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st From: ritz@msb.com (Chris Mauritz) Subject: Re: Atari's position in the U.S. Market Date: Fri Jun 7 12:40:06 1991 In article <42834@cup.portal.com> Metalist@cup.portal.com (Bryan Jones Woodworth) writes: >Atari's image in America has never been great, has it? Now I hear that STart >is going bi-monthly?! Ok. But let me ask you out there: Will the Atari >situation ever IMPROVE? Or will it continue to decline? (You can assume >this is a rhetorical question.) Aw, what the hell, my account is expiring soon anyway... :-) Well, I view Atari from a pessimists' viewpoint so keep that in mind. Atari's earnings are horrid. The company is in deep debt. Their products are not selling very well (just read an article that stated that Portfolio purchases are falling off dramatically too) compared to the past. With the exception of Portfolio advertising, there basically is NO ad campaign. Their products are late to market compared to comparable products from other companies. What do I think is going to happen? Take a wild guess. Enjoy all, Chris p.s. Putting on my asbestos undies now. :-) -- ------------------------------------+--------------------------------------- Chris Mauritz |People are strange ritz@msb.com |when you're a stranger. Copyright (C) 1991 |The Doors- [END] Tom Why purchase a MAC when an Amiga with the same CPU will run 99% of all __ MAC software..and FASTER at that?! The same can be said of the IBM and __/// Atari computers, and I can run those in a window. IBM's greatest sales \XX/ tool is ignorance on the consumer's part. IBM=(I)'ve (B)een (M)islead. A If you want to be popular then buy a MAC....If you want to be powerful M then buy an Amiga..and use all that money you save to buy friends. :') I Classic=B&W, no blitter, no DMA, almost no sound, almost no expansion, G price tag of $1000. Amiga 500=4096 colors, DMA galore, great sound, an A 86 pin expansion port, price tag of $500. Confused? Only the Amiga!!!!