NetNews Offline 2/NetNews Offline Volume 2.iso/news/comp/sys/amiga/misc-part1/2683

Internet Message Format | 1996-08-05 | 5.2 KB

Path: sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk!demon!hchworth.demon.co.uk
From: Paul Chan <paul>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Re: The March Amiga?
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 10:12:45 GMT
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
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[e-mail] (Gary Alan Peake) wrote:


>>The surfer package is something that`s eminently better as a black box with
>>infrared keyboard - sound like something from an AT press release?
>>It should cost no more than a Saturn with Intenet add-on. ie in the UK no more
>>than 399UK pounds.
>>
>>Nobody who knows anything about the Internet would go for a 14.4k modem, and I
>>know I`d be narked if they didn`t include a 28.8k option. How about if they
>>markeed registered versions of just the software and let us choose a modem
>>(unles their deal is cheaper than what we`d be able to get a, say, Motorola
>>3400 for).
>
>Again, we miss the point of the Surfer. What better way to get new users
>than to offer a net package right out of the box? Maybe not the hottest
>modem available, but that also helps 3rd party developers stay with the
>Amiga. The WHOLE picture has to be looked at. If AT offered a 28.8k modem,
>then the bitchin would be about the 'brand' of modem! Ask any Supra or
>Sportser advocate if you doubt this.

It`s not really the hottest machine on offer either, and if it isn`t rpiced
right then it`ll sink like a stone. Sad to say, but true.
[snips]

>Amiga Technologies has a plan that may not fit every user in the user base.
>BUT, getting new users should be top priority right now. If we all wait for
>PPC cards and the PPC Amiga, they will still have us in the future. And if
>AT can sell enough 1300's and 4000T's now, then the perfect upgrade path
>will be to the PPC. It's a simple looking plan to me? I can't understand why
>it's so darn hard to grasp for others.

Getting new users:

1)    Advertise in the press (video mags, computer mags, TV, etc)
2)    When the buyers come into the shop, make sure that the sale srep doesn`t say
the Amiga is CRAP and please look at this nice PC instead.
3)    Don`t call it an Amiga. A lot of UK computing folks still associate the
Amiga with the A500. It`s a bad association and should be eliminated by making
the Amiga name a smaller part of a new name that "really rocks". In other
words, make sure that the new netsurfing box has a cool name other than Amiga.
4)    The price has got to be good when they get to the shop with the nice
assistant who will help them buy their new machine.


Easy, c`est non?


>>It`ll continue to look like a toy the more that the big-box PC`s get into the
>>general public`s consciousness. In the UK, an Amiga big box should be designed
>>to look apart from the PC crowd. The most obvious idea is to have a custom
>>coloured box. I for one will admit that attractive cases would put any
>>machine/item, be it hi-fi, video, TV, computer higher up my list as I don`t
>>want to be looking at something that I can look at day in day out and get a
>>positive reaction... why else do you think Sports coupe`s stand out from the
>>general boring family salon crowd?
>
>Less than 5% of the cars sold are 'sports coupes' in that sense of the word.
>Well away from making it profitable for Amiga Technologies if the same %
>would hold.

Bad car example. Sports Coupe owners know they have a cool, high performance
model. That`s the general image of the Mac. Remember that PC-TV`s are selling
badly because they are too high priced to fit a living room. Add the fact that
a back PC case as seen on most PC-TV`s is now starting to get cheesy.

The AT Amiga Surfer should be packaged like a mini-sgi - That`s got a high
image de to expoisure to the movie magazines. Design a small mini-tower based
around th larger sgi family, remote keyboard, tracker mouse, and you have an
INSTANT IMAGE! (barring any law suits from Silicon Graphics, of course ;)

[snips]


>>>I don't think it's going to do as great as you think it is.  It's going
>>>to be a fair-to-middling success at best.  It makes the fact that
>>>they'd better not make any false moves with the PPC even more
>>>important.
>>
>>If it isn`t at the *right price*, the surfer pack will fade into
>>insignificance. There are plenty of 400UK pound solutions to netsurfing, Satur
>n
>>and Philips CDi to start with. That Oracle box to come. The Amiga should be
>>pitched in there at the same price with all the netsurfing stuff (14.4k, more
>>for the 28.8k, of course). A decent Amiga has many chances of beating away the
>>opposition and becoming a string force in the low end, but it`ll never become
>>popular until the price comes down.
>
>The 'right price' is whatever price the production can be sold at. Lot's of
>people pay full sticker for an Infinity and it ain't that great of a car!
>Not $60,000 worth anyway.

No. The right price is under 299, or it`ll never become a mass market product,
and Saturn, Philips, Oracle, et al will start to take over with their high
price marketing campaigns.