[net.micro.amiga] COMSPEC ...

king@dciem.UUCP (Stephen King) (01/21/86)

***
I bought my Amiga from Comspec in Toronto, and called them up to
get some information about their RAM expansion. Since they know who I
am, they were a little more willing to divulge pre-release information
to me. The RAM expansion box, scheduled for release by mid-February,
will sell for $1k (CDN). This is fully loaded with 2 MB of RAM.
Being a hardware person, I suspect that they use 256k DRAM chips, as any
other approach (ie. static RAM, 64k chips) would lead to a bulkier, more
power hungry, more expensive, box. I have seen a prototype in action,
and the case is about 3" wide and as high and as deep as the Amiga
case itself. The bus from the Amiga is fully buffered and passes right
through to permit other boxes to be chained onto it. Comspec says
that this is 'fast' memory, and have run lots of multi-tasking s/w
on it. Release has been delayed due to the CSA approval lag.
   Comspec also spoke of a fellow who phoned for information and was
quite 'snarky', saying that he would spread their name all over the
net and thus give bad publicity. (This wasn't you was it? 8-)). They have 
had some problem in the past with giving out pre-release information and
are understandably reluctant to do so now. The store (which we talk to)
and the research department (which we don't) are two discrete entities,
and the store is not privvy to all that goes on in research.
   Hope this helps clear up some questions.
						-sjk.

...ihnp4!utzoo!dciem!king		(416) 635-2149

wagner@utcs.uucp (Michael Wagner) (02/05/86)

In article <1173@caip.RUTGERS.EDU> STEVEH@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU@caip.RUTGERS.EDU writes:
>From: "Stephen C. Hill" <STEVEH@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU>
>
>Have you taken the fact into account that $CDN ~= $.75US?  (I am not current
>on exchange rates but I seem to remember that it is in the .7 to .8 range)


Actually, it went down to .69 in the last few days.  Woe is us
(consumers, anyways).

Michael Wagner  (utcs!wagner)

rb@ccivax.UUCP (02/06/86)

In article <403@ism780c.UUCP> tim@ism780c.UUCP (Tim Smith) writes:
>When you have high demand and not much competition, you will see high
>prices if the people selling are trying to make maximum profits.
>At least with the open nature of the Amiga, you people will probably not
>have to wait that long!

Is that why Lotus 1-2-3 is still running $495, and color cards are
still $300.

I hope you are right, but it seems that support companies like to price
accessories/software as a percentage of the purchase price of the
target machine.  If you paid $2000 for the micro, you must be willing
to pay $1000 for the drive, unless you can get it from Japan for $300.
Software is worse because Japan doesn't write much software :}

If you paid $1000 for the PC, you probably won't pay more than $500
for the drive, or more than $100 for software.

farren@well.UUCP (Mike Farren) (02/08/86)

In article <375@ccivax.UUCP>, rb@ccivax.UUCP writes:
>In article <403@ism780c.UUCP> tim@ism780c.UUCP (Tim Smith) writes:
>>When you have high demand and not much competition, you will see high
>>prices if the people selling are trying to make maximum profits.
>>At least with the open nature of the Amiga, you people will probably not
>>have to wait that long!
> 
> Is that why Lotus 1-2-3 is still running $495, and color cards are
> still $300.

  How about Osborne's Lotus clone for $99, and a color card for $75 (I've seen 
both - yeah, they don't have "IBM" stamped on 'em, but then, neither do the
things YOU'RE talking about).

  I was real tempted to cross-post to net.philosophy, so someone could tell
me the name of the logical fallacy you have presented here.  Manufacturers
price according to what they can get from the marketplace, not according to
some "magic formula" related to the price of the machine.  As it happens,
people who buy expensive machines are generally willing to pay expensive
peripheral prices, so the manufacturers (not unwisely) price their stuff
accordingly.  THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ACTUAL VALUE OF THE MERCHANDISE!
An example - it is possible to buy an IBM PC expansion hard disk/controller
setup, with a 20M disk, for $1500 - I've seen this price from a couple of
distributors.  It is also possible to buy the same equipment for $450, the
only difference being the name stamped on the outside of the carton.

-- 
           Mike Farren
           uucp: {your favorite backbone site}!hplabs!well!farren
           Fido: Sci-Fido, Fidonode 125/84, (415)655-0667

hes@ecsvax.UUCP (Henry Schaffer) (02/09/86)

> In article <403@ism780c.UUCP> tim@ism780c.UUCP (Tim Smith) writes:
> >When you have high demand and not much competition, you will see high
> >prices if the people selling are trying to make maximum profits.
> >At least with the open nature of the Amiga, you people will probably not
> >have to wait that long!
> 
> Is that why Lotus 1-2-3 is still running $495, ...
> 
That's right, Lotus 1-2-3 doesn't have much competition - measured the
only way that counts - i.e., in the eyes of the prospective purchasers.
Lotus has achieved an enviable marketing situation - they are *perceived*
as being the only good, powerful, desireable, ... spreadsheet/etc. program
in the market.  Most real purchasers would rather pay $495 for 1-2-3 than
get a competitor (regardless of quality or their own needs) for $100, or
even for free.
--henry schaffer