From: James_Hastings-Trew@telepro.UUCP (James Hastings-Trew)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.emulations
Subject: Re: Emplant IBM
Distribution: world
Date: 13 Aug 92 00:18:10 CST
Organization: TelePro Technologies

In a message dated Wed 12 Aug 92  8:39, Simon@ivem.uucp (simon Lee) wrote:

 SL> Put yourself in your company's shoes.  You have a new product that is
 SL> revolutionary.  Now one of your employees leaks this to the general
 SL> public.
 SL> Two things happen.  1. People rejoice.  2. People steal idea and
 SL> clone.
 SL> Now #2 won't happen (maybe), but in CBM's case, sales on older models
 SL> would
 SL> drop, if there are changes to the design, people would be misled, CBM
 SL> would
 SL> look stupid (like it does now), and things wouldn't look good for the
 SL> computer's future.  This is purely IMHO, but to me NDA is "does not
 SL> exist" in
 SL> my opinion.  When I see it, then that's when it exists.

 SL> And I agree.  CBM better come out with something new and exciting. 
 SL> I'm bored.

Well, we are wandering pretty far from the topic of emulation, but here is
one last kick at this particular cat. In no way do I condone what the
leaker did. But this particular stew is of Commodore's own making. 

Commodore has traditionally sold best to it's own past customers. It has a
hard time getting the customer base to broaden out, but it has had great
success in keeping old customers "in the fold". It does this by creating
great products. I myself am a perfect example of a committed Commodore fan
- I started at the Vic 20 and worked my way up through the product line,
from the C64, through the 128, through the A500, and now to an A2500 with
plenty of RAM and storage space.

It's current marketing efforts have been odd to say the least. I don't
think that announcement of the AA chipset is going to loose them ANY
business. It will in fact SAVE them business. Since people outside the
Commodore community will not not have heard of the AA chipset, what it is,
or what it promises, the impact of the announcement or non-announcement
will be minimal upon their decision about which computer system to buy.
What will have the greater impact will be the screwy pricing which puts a
low-end, low memory, low-HD space machine with NO monitor at a price HIGHER
than a more powerful and monitor equipped Mac LC system (which have been
selling like hotcakes). And let's not even talk about comparing the price
of a 2000HD system against a much more powerful 386 clone. 

Now, since most consumers of Commodore equipment are past customers,
doesn't it make sense to keep these customers "in the fold?" How many
"defections" have you noticed in the last few months, as people abandon the
Amiga to pursue systems that offer more expansion, graphic capability, and
support? How many of those defections could have been prevented by the
announcement of the chipset and WB 3.0? Commodore will never know.

Some people cite the "Osborne" effect as an excuse for this kind of
mis-marketing. Adam Osborne had a great little computer. A few people got
them, got eye-strain looking at the little monitor, and Osborne immediately
started promising better and sexier models. Customers waited for the better
models, and Osborne went out of business because nobody was buying his
current models. The difference between the "Osborne" effect and the current
Commodore situation is this: back then people didn't really NEED the
Osborne computer yet, so they were quite content to live without it until
the better one was available. In this competitive day and age, many people
NEED a particular computer to solve a particular problem. And they cannot
wait to buy the next one - they need something NOW. In fact, the enticement
of a viable future of the machine with promises of future expansion of the
base product would be an incentive to a prospective purchaser, especially
if there was promise of an upgradge path (facts which ominously are missing
from the leaked information, as well as from Commodore itself). 

This might well be called the "Commodore Effect" in marketing textbooks in
future years - Keep a secret so long that by the time you announce, all of
your customers have gone elsewhere...

-- Via DLG Pro v0.995

Xref: sparky comp.sys.amiga.emulations:3620 comp.sys.amiga.hardware:14398