| I am certainly prejudiced in favor of the Amiga (its great fun to
dump on other computers! Try it and see!), but I know something
of how Apple treats their dealers vs CBM. My brother in law works
for Apple as a Macintosh rep, and I get all the poop from him.
First, CBM tried to act like Apple and IBM while setting up a dealer
network for the Amiga. They guaranteed them price (and profit)
protection, and also claimed IBM compatibility via the Transformer.
(Which, by the way, was a year late, but in fact does all that it
is claimed to do for an absurdly low price).
However, in the face of increasing pressure from Atari, CBM has
been forced to cut prices on several occasions. This means that
a dealer may have to sell a system for a song to remain competitive.
Another dilemna occurred when large chains like Computer Factory
bought gobs of Amigas at the discounted price, then held on to them
until the sale was over, in the hopes of making a killing. CBM
has since dropped them as a dealer, 'tho they will sell you a system
from the back room.
So, the dealer network sees CBM as reverting to a low-end sleeze
outfit, ala Atari.
To your original question, Jeff Porter, CBM Engineer, told me right
to my face (er...screen) that as of July, 100,000 Amigas had been
sold in the USA alone. These numbers, if true, would appear to
exceed the volumes of Atari ST's shipped in the USA (60,000) per
Atari's stock prospectus.
The Amiga began shipping to Europe in June, where people were hungry
for the product, but could not afford the price of $2700-3000 in
the face of $1000 Atari 1040 STs. However, CBM has just dropped
the European price by about $750.00
Noone can guarantee that any product will survive, but it looks
like the Apple ][GS will not be the killer that was believed, and
as the Amiga system price approaches the ST system price, sales
should go up even further.
Don't be discouraged by the fact that the "respectable" dealers
are dropping the Amiga. They are motivated by profit margins, not
selling the best technology at an affordable price.
Software support for the Amiga (and ST) is strong and getting stronger.
The Sidecar should help sell a few machines also. Version 1.2 of
AmigaDOS makes the Amiga faster and more powerful than ever.
Best of all, Miami Vice is using Amigas on the show!!
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| Buy your Amiga and enjoy it. You'll ever be in a better position
that we are !
Amiga has finally arrived in Italy ( and Europe as well ) in the
local version, i.e. PAL version. They ( Commodore Italy) are delivering
it since the very beginning of the month. Nevertheless a big bunch
of people have already bought the NTSC version 'cause they didn't
want to wait. In Turin alone ( NW Italy, 1.5Million people) in less
then one month they have sold over 200 systems, ALL THE ONES THAT
WERE AVAILABLE. There is a long waiting list of people that want
to buy it.
Consider also that commodore Italy has always been the worst dealer
in the world, that almost NO software is available throu regular
channels... and they want it anyway.
I got it. And I'm fully satisfied ( up to now, at least).
Just a little advise, as a user. Buy immediatly a second drive.
And have a 512 k machine.
Ciao.
marco
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| I have questioned the people at Computer Mart about their support
for the Amiga.The response was that management is sour on CBM's
marketing,and that they are taking a wait and see attitude before
restocking .I was assured that customer support will be maintained,
and service will be available. They had just recieved a shipment
of external drives,and a customer was carrying out an Amiga while
I was there. I go in often to pick up pd stuff an see what is
happening. Last sat. I met two guys from DEC who came from Mass
to pick up pd software, and several other users. It is ironic
for a store that "would rather sell apples" should have so many
Amiga users present. What bothers me is that while I was using the
Amiga to build an adventure disk(bought adventure construction set)
a person nearby was AMAZED that the Amiga played music.(disk loads
with blareing trumpets),and shocked by the graphics. In conversation
he mentioned he had ordered a GS . I told him I was sure he would
enjoy his new system and continued about my task. This would seem
to imply that he was not shown the Amiga at all. I appreciate the
stores willingness to allow free access to the Amiga and their PD
library so am always very careful not to "bother" any customers,
but also always leave the Amiga with something interesting on the
screen.(GLASS.IMG Caused A near riot). I would say buy your Amiga,
because I have yet to meet anyone that is unhappy with theirs. If
you do decide (or if you don't) call Computer Mart in Nashua for
a quote.I am not solicitating for them,I just want them to know
people are still buying Amigas. one last thing you should consider
is the unofficial support available from other users. I have yet
to meet a user that was not willing to help me
bill
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| I was wandering about Germany near Heidelburg around November 20 and
saw Amiga's in several department stores well displayed with nice
signs and all. Unfortunately, none were running (insert Kickstart)
and no one seemed able to demo one. Well, at least the marketing part
seems better done than here in the USA.
-SES
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