es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) (10/19/90)
There is one thing which many people are either forgetting and not realizing. Every dollar which Commodore spends on their advertising budget is taking a dollar away from some other important division, such as improving the O/S, etc. Also, the advertising money could be not-spent and thus lower our prices. Commodore is running themselves, recently, as a not-for-profit company! They made only $1.5 million on sales of over $850 million this past year (7/1/89 - 6/30/90). That is compared to a profit on the order of $50 million on $950 million in sales the year before. Commodore has not payed dividends in ages. They are spending every dime they have, and borrowing to boot. Commodore only has just so much money. Apple this QUARTER had sales of over $1 billion. Commodore cannot compete on a financial level with Apple, yet. Don't expect as many ads as Apple gives or you'll be disappointed. Besides, Apple already has a professional image. They can show a computer and people will say it must be good. Commodore doesn't get the same respect when they advertise. People should be behind the A500 advertisements, because if it weren't for the sales of the A500 Commodore would be bankrupt long ago. All IMNSHO's liberally dispersed where required. 8) -- Ethan Ethan Solomita: es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu GorbachevAwards++; free (SovietUnion); IndependentRepublics += 15;
xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Nigel Tzeng) (10/19/90)
In article <1990Oct19.051510.15213@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>, es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) writes... ^ ^ There is one thing which many people are either ^forgetting and not realizing. Every dollar which Commodore spends ^on their advertising budget is taking a dollar away from some ^other important division, such as improving the O/S, etc. Also, ^the advertising money could be not-spent and thus lower our ^prices. By improving sales they might recoup the monies spent on advertising...it would seem today that the major factor in America is not performance but image or advertising. ^ Commodore is running themselves, recently, as a ^not-for-profit company! They made only $1.5 million on sales of ^over $850 million this past year (7/1/89 - 6/30/90). That is ^compared to a profit on the order of $50 million on $950 million ^in sales the year before. Commodore has not payed dividends in ^ages. They are spending every dime they have, and borrowing to ^boot. Commodore only has just so much money. Hmmm...if they C= promises that they will run the MultiMedia persentation as a 30 sec spot I'll be glad to send $10 their way as a "donation". I'm sure many others here might as well...if only to get people to stop whining about the lousy advertising ;-). It worth a lot more than $10 to me not to have to sort though the incessant crying over poor advertising strategy at C=. [rest deleted to save bandwidth] A better idea than the $10 bucks to C= might be to send $10 to your local users group to see if they can float their own ad somewhere...or how about C= sponsoring a contest for "The Best Amiga Ad"...winner(s) get a 3000 (with all the bells and whistles) or something similar (cash equivalent if they already have enough computer equipment). They can then a) show that the average user can do some really impressive things on the machine b) get a free commercial c) get a decent commercial d) get -MB- (and the rest of us ;-) to stop whining. ^ ^ -- Ethan ^ ^Ethan Solomita: es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu ^ ^GorbachevAwards++; ^free (SovietUnion); ^IndependentRepublics += 15; NT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- // | Nigel Tzeng - STX Inc - NASA/GSFC COBE Project \X/ | xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov | Amiga | Standard Disclaimer Applies: The opinions expressed are my own.
mike@maths.tcd.ie (Mike Rogers) (10/24/90)
In article <1990Oct19.051510.15213@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>, es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) wrote: >People should be behind the A500 advertisements, because if it >weren't for the sales of the A500 Commodore would be bankrupt Funny thing. I was in a local computer shop recently, a total Mac and IBM stronhold, to ask about pricing of A-Max. Downstairs, in the basement, was the kiddies shop (upstairs is business--all MacSEs and PS/2s) where, of course, the obligatory A500 with workbench screen was sitting there. Omit all usual complaints about how they should have had a real demo going, or it upstairs running A-Max+. Anyway, beside it and the C64 I noticed the new C64 console and innocently asked the guy how it was selling. He told me it was their hottest item. Needless to say, I put this down to salestalk (do UI really look like I want to buy a C64?). But while I was waiting for a price to be downloaded two people came in, asked for it by name (the Commodore 64 cartridge thingy) and bought it on the spot. This was at three in the afternoon today Tuesday. Now, unless it was all carefully staged for my benefit, it seems as if Commodore may actually have themselves a viable cashcow here. Of course, it only serves to reinforce their games company image :-( -- Mike Rogers, Box 6, Regent Hse, TCD. | WRITE (UNIT=*,FMT=*) 'FORTRAN SUCKS' mike@hamilton.maths.tcd.ie (UNIX=>AOK)| The Irish...White Niggers of the World mike@tcdmath.uucp (UUCP=>oldie/goodie)| There is no God, get real for Chrissakes msrogers@vax1.tcd.ie(VMS => blergh) | -my annoy maximum number of people .sig-
peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) (10/25/90)
In article <3681@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov writes: > cash equivalent if they already have enough computer equipment You can NEVER have enough computer equipment. It's like Jello. There's always room for Jello. -- Peter da Silva. `-_-' <peter@sugar.hackercorp.com>.
eachus@linus.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus) (10/27/90)
It's about time that Commodore puts a 30-second spot just before
kickoff at the Superbowl saying: "During the game you will see lots
of ads for other computers...but Amigas will be doing all the work."
Or some such, with a couple quick cuts to show where and how Amigas
are being used.
Ads during the Superbowl cost big bucks, but in the computer
industry and several others, its ok not to watch the game as long as
you watch the commercials to find out what the competition is doing.
If Amigas are used as extensively at this SuperBowl as the last one,
it would be a crime to miss using all the free publicity by not
taking one short spot to deflate the other computer commercials to
follow. :-)
--
Robert I. Eachus
with STANDARD_DISCLAIMER;
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