Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!unido!fauern!fauern!csbrod
From: csbrod@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Claus Brod )
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: OK, so they sell the STe in Europe...
Message-ID: <2427@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
Date: 15 Feb 90 12:31:12 GMT
References: <9002020807.AA08400@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <4876ef20.14a1f@force.UUCP> <1990Feb13.115340.5645@bath.ac.uk>
Organization: CSD, University of Erlangen, W-Germany
Lines: 22

exspes@bath.ac.uk (P E Smee) writes:

>There is ONE good reason for selling to Europe first.  In general, FCC type
>approval is harder to get than the corresponding approvals in Europe.  So,
>Atari can begin selling the machines over here before they have been
>tightened down to FCC specs.  Or, in other words, it may be that Europe is
>being used to 'bug-chase' the machines before they are released in the
>States, rather than being favored.  Certainly, if problems DO occur with the
>early versions of a machine, it is better to have them surface in the market
>which is potentially smaller, rather than in the one which is potentially
>large.

We don't like these ideas very much here in Europe. First of all, why
should the US FCC restrictions be tighter than ours? Any facts about
this? Second, the US appears to us as a PC-sick country. Users don't
seem ready to change over to 68000 computers (except, of course, the
Mac). Third, after five years of software and hardware development
for the ST, the European market has proven to be more flexible and
powerful than the US market; European applications set the pace for
ST software development. Many good reasons for ATARI to favor Europe.

Claus Brod