[net.micro.amiga] Amiga v. Atari court case and Amiga sales #'s

mcrae@ssc-vax.UUCP (Brian Mcrae) (11/04/86)

*** REPLACE YOUR BRAIN HERE ***

	I just got my EE Times and on page 4 there is an article about 
a court case between Atari and C-Amiga over the VLSI chips in the Amiga.
Apparently Atari is making a claim to the 3 chips in the Amiga, but Amiga is
calling it a "publicity stunt" on Atari's part since it didn't file an 
injuction against using the chips.  

	There is other interesting information in this article.  Atari 
lost $14 million in 1985. Atari will be updating there 520 to 2 meg. and 1040 
to 4 meg. with a "new graphics processor that will boost the 1040 and the 520
speed by a factor of 5.  Atari sold 95,000 units of the ST in '85 and 
according to Dataquest will sell an estimated 316,000 this year.  Amiga
sold 35,000 units in '85 and will sell an estimated 252,000 this year.
Commodore is expected to post a profit again in the first quarter of '87
after posting on this quarter of '86.

	Everyone I talk to who is involved with selling software for the 
Amiga is saying things are going just fantastic.

**** WHAT FOLLOWS IS RUMORS ****
	I talked to various people closely involved with the Amiga yesterday.
They put their estimate of units around 150,000 worldwide total for both 
years, but they admitted they were quessing.  Does anybody know the real
#'s of Amigas sold?  The people at AmigaWorld claimed that Amiga is
coming out with new configurations of the Amiga in Jan. at the Las Vegas 
Consumer Electronics show.  These new machines will probably include 
the much rumored
Ranger (2500 series).  It MIGHT include 1024x1024 resolution, upgradable with 
a 68020, upgradable internal ram,  and a general aim at the low end workstation
market.  There might also be a low end Amiga (lower than the current 1000)
The current 1000 configuration is planned on being phased out and replaced with
one of these two machines.  

**** note: THE ABOVE ARE RUMORS.  I CAN'T SAY HOW TRUE THEY ARE OR HOW
ACURATE THEY ARE. ****

			Brian McRae
			@Boeing Aerospace in Seattle

			-- don't kiss aluminum doors in the winter time

disclaimer:  My opinions are my own and don't have anything to do with 
		anything, especially Boeing who disclaim me. 

mcrae@ssc-vax.UUCP (Brian Mcrae) (11/04/86)

	I forgot to mention that Atari earned 8.5 mill. so far this year and
	it spent 6.2 mill on the graphics chip.
 
 			Brian McRae
 			@Boeing Aerospace in Seattle
 
 			-- don't kiss aluminum doors in the winter time
 
 disclaimer:  My opinions are my own and don't have anything to do with 
 		anything, especially Boeing who disclaim me.