Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!cbmvax!cbmehq!cbmger!peterk
From: peterk@cbmger.UUCP (Peter Kittel GERMANY)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: CBM & AMIGA
Keywords: CBM AMIGA
Message-ID: <1429@cbmger.UUCP>
Date: 28 Jun 91 07:12:32 GMT
References: <2326@tekig7.MAP.TEK.COM>
Reply-To: peterk@cbmger.UUCP (Peter Kittel GERMANY)
Organization: Commodore Bueromaschinen GmbH, West Germany
Lines: 72

In article <2326@tekig7.MAP.TEK.COM> danielh@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Daniel Hartman) writes:
>
>ULTRA BAD BUSINESS DECISIONS: (by CBM)
>
>1. Making the 500 look like a C128 (no comments necessary)

No issue any more today.

>2. Not putting a 68020 in the 2000 when it was introduced. (Might have stopped
>   companies from making incompatible software (with the accelerated proc.) from
>   the beginning.

Remember: Back then when the A2000 was introduced, the 020 was expensive
like several computers on their own, way too expensive.

>3. Not including a hard drive with the 2000, or producing a cheap A500 or A1000
>   type computer with a hard drive.  What kind of computer does NOT have a hard
>   drive?  Sure, maybe a 500 might cost $800 instead of $500, but then, maybe
>   people would buy a 500HD instead of a Mac Classic.

Yes, and this difference $800 to $500 really makes it.

>4. (When they do it), putting 2.0 on ROMs for the 3000.  It takes about 1 second
>   to load in the operating system from the harddrive, PLUS, its automaticly
>   put in faster RAM.

Sorry, I hear more people complaining about this 'kludge'.

>7. CDTV.  I'd personally rather see better graphics capabilities, 68040 boards,
>   etc.
>
>Now, it may sound like I'm biased against the low-end users.  However, you don't
>hear PC and XT owners dictating how the industries going, do you?
>No, its the high end users with 386s and 486s who 'control' the direction.
>Also, if 500s did come with hard drives, and more were sold, then they wouldn't
>cost as much, would they?

It's simply because Commodore sees these things completely different,
that we are still alive! The A500 and also the Commodore XTs (the latter
at least in Europe) sell like hell. It's a *mass market*. In this mass
market Commodore is the clear leader (at least in Europe), so we can
make our living with it, no luxury though, but we survive. *Any dollar*
that you add to the price - and be it for a real valuable add-on - is
directly affecting sales figures. So Commodore must very deeply research
which add-on will pay and which not. Until now, this job was done nicely,
in that the named mass market is stable. And the last decision, introducing
the CDTV, aims in the same direction: to the masses, to every family that
also has a TV or a stereo. If this works similarly, there will be another
possibility to earn the living.

And considering the high-end machines: Yes, Commodore is also in this
business (do you know we sell 386's and 486's here?). And here we also
sell these devices well, because we have a well-known name. Yes, Commodore
is known as a computer company by every European, and yes, most of them
still remember more the 'game' computers, but that doesn't hurt so much,
because they still recognize that it's a powerful, market-leading
company. Yes, here in Germany, we compete directly with IBM on the
PC market! (At least counting devices, when counting values, we are one
place further behind, 3rd perhaps, don't have the current figures at
hand.)

Now, what can we learn from this: If you have a market segment, you
have to keep it. Don't give it away for some ambitious dreams. Then,
when you have this solid base, you may moderately expand into other
market segments. If this works well, you have a second basis and can
gather resources for yet another. And so on. And on this way Commodore
has steadily grown during the last few years, and I really hope it
will continue so.

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