NetNews Offline 2/NetNews Offline Volume 2.iso/news/comp/sys/amiga/misc-part1/2834

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From: Paul Chan <paul>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Re: The March Amiga?
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 1996 12:25:31 GMT
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Aldo Hoeben <[e-mail]> wrote:
>Paul Chan wrote:
>(...)
>>
>> 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.
>
>I don't know; That wouldn't do the AMiga any good, would it? You're making a point when it comes to the simple fact that
>Amiga's have a name at being gameconsoles, mainly because of the 500. Granted. Then again, SEGA, THE SEGA (add an "m" and
>you'll have a 'GAmES' acronym) is entering the internet market. We could use that fact, sneeking in behind them.
>Wasn't it one of Commodore's earlier mistake to disencourage games from being developped for the 1000? No, this would be
>a professional machine, no games. Games saved the day later.
>Now wouldn't it be great if the surferpack would sell bucketloads, give AT a good name, money and 3rd party/ software
>developper support, so they can start making 'professional' machines too?

C= didn`t let any computers with 4 ft of the CDTV, and refused to call it an
Amiga. People weren`t sure that they needed a 600UK pound CD thing that didn`t
seem to do much. So it failed. The marketing company were ostensibly right in
sayng that C= had to get away from the computer tag, but back then PC`s were
expensive and made for business, and the Amiga was a silly games machine (in
the UK, anyway).

Nowadays, the Amiga name is mud to most UK computer acquainted people (yes,
it`s "just" a games machine, and one that`s serious unfashionable and out of
date at that). The PC is commonplace and much cheaper, and Internet is a big
buzzword from 1995. Add in the Superconsoles and you have a much more tech
aware population who are starting to come round to the idea that a PC is the
machine tobuy (thanks to marketing by whoever and MS)  So technology is less
scary, Internet is hot, PC is very hot, and Amiga is old news.

Yes, games saved the day for the Amiga, but only in the short term. When the
Amiga was swamped by low end users who inflated the user-base for low end
machines and never upgraded, eventually moving on to 16-bit consoles, Amiga was
doomed to start a recession into "un-hip-ness" thanks in no small part to the
aggressive Sega *marketing* campaigns of the early 90`s.

Sega was cool, and Amiga had copped an image as an ageing games box. Mud
sticks, and the CDTV was an attempt to steer away from the games box image
which failed.

The Amiga`s image will not be changed significantly by a new chipset. If you
see news reports of an Amiga A5000, it`ll inevitably be out of the price range
for many folks and still ignored by many more for it`s image. A low end "Amiga
PPC" wll still be looked at by games players first if the word "Amiga" was all
they read on the page. OK, they could call the low end PPC machione Amiga A2400
or whaever, but to the customer that`s just something along the lines of that
A500/A600/A1200 isn`t it? They`ll then buy their cheap Pentium 166 instead.

I suggest that the Amiga name be left on Amiga Technologies etc, but that the
PPC machines be given a new name *in addition* to the Amiga. I`ve said many
yearsago on other newsgroups that something cool sounding between the word
Amiga and the obligatory numbers is necessary:

Something like:
Amiga Onyx 100 sounds suitably mysterious enough to attract people (yes, I know
it`s a silicon graphics name, but how many sgi`s have you ever seen going about
the moniker "1200"  or "4000".


>> 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.
>
>Ah, this might be an interesting discussion: Why doesn't interactivity work in a livingroom-environment?
>What's the problem with:
>    - PC-TV's (assuming you mean PC's connected to a livingroom TV)
>    - CD-i
>    - interactive tv
>    - and so on

The PC-TV is an example of a black case colour PC with usually underpowered
Pentium 60/75 and limited expansion options purporting to be "multimedia" and
have a CD drive. They look cheesy, and are of no interest to most desktop
buyers who see the PC-TV concept for what it is. Crap, underpowered, overpriced
for the typical computer-know-nothing.



[stuff snipped - irrelevant]

>> 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 ;)
>> The CDTV (Commodore's Dynamic Total Vision, remember?) was not to be sold as a computer. Heavy denial of it being a
>computer caused massive confusion about this 'thing'. No, it was a CD-player 'with that little bit extra'. CDTV failed.
>Are we not running this same risk if we would produce a settop box, that's not a computer, that's not called an Amiga,
>that's 'just settop, with that little bit extra'?
>I agree, you ARE making a point, but I'm just making the point we should be carefull with such decissions. Don't make
>what we THINK people want, make what they WANT. Don't say: "Here, use this, we know you'll like it, we studied you", but
>"Here, does this satisfy your needs?".

Of course AT should be careful. But I can tell you that thanks to the
widespread view of the Amiga in the UK as an old, crap, now too expensive games
machine willkill off any ideas AT have of introducing an "AmigaCD32 mk2" and
calling it an Amiga.  I`m not talking about Tech spec at all. I`m talking about
marketing image. I don`t know what the US or German image of the Amiga is, but
I can tell you about the UK view. And it`s not very nice. AT UK didn`t make a
move to try to change the public viewpoint about the Amiga. And they got what
they deserved -FIRED for low sales- because IMHO a significant effort has to be
made to change the UK perception of the Amiga as it stands - or the UK Amigans
will first get a Playstation or whatever for their gaming needs, and then get a
Mac/Win96 PC after the Amiga dies off in the UK.

If UK folks see a "new" Amiga Axxxx on the streets in March, they`ll not stop
to wonder about it while they realistically weigh up the PC/Playstation option.
They`ll be laughing at the Amiga name (again, it`s a crap, old, rip-off, that
doesn`t run xxyyzz-must-have software) before they attempt to look deeper into
the reality of the Amiga.

Technically, the marketing would be helped if the tech dept come up with some
wonderful PPC/enhanced 3D chipset/sound setup that was a match for the
Playstation and a P100 in terms of tech and then in price.

I`m sure that many Amigans wouldn`t even stop to look at marketing if the old
A500 "feelgood, nothing better/cheaper on the market" factor came back.