rick@sbcs.sunysb.edu (Rick Spanbauer) (05/15/89)
I've a list of some projects for the Amiga (mostly hardware) that look nice on paper. The question is "Will these products be commercially viable?". To determine viability I need to know roughly where people think the machine will go and what (if any) market definition the Amiga has. To date I really haven't heard much out of Commodore about what their view of the Amiga is, saving for one statement that "We just want to sell machines" and "The Amiga is a sophisticated replacement for our C128/C64, etc lines". Neither answer is satisfactory at all in that they don't identify who is buying the Amiga, and why. The other question I have for people who respond to this message is: Have we defined the Amiga marketplace solely on price/performance rather than functionality? A few ideas I am kicking around would bring high performance at a higher price - without applications of some substance that justify the machine (eg in PC market Autocad, etc justify many of the high performance graphics adapter products), it will be very hard to sell high cost enhancements. Please respond by posting, ie don't deluge me with private e-mail. I should like to hear from as many folks as possible on the issues mentioned in this message. Rick Spanbauer SUNY/Stony Brook
page%swap@Sun.COM (Bob Page) (05/16/89)
Sounds like you want to ask CBM, not comp.sys.amiga. I suggest you use the channel that already exists for just this purpose - the amiga.dev/market.info conference. I *know* not everybody has access to BIX, and I *know* not everybody likes it (user interface, cost, what have you). But when you're making decisions on bringing Amiga products to market, you have to ask where your questions can get answered, rather than multitude of ill-informed opinions you get from Usenet. ..bob
jimm@amiga.UUCP (Jim Mackraz) (05/16/89)
In article <2823@sbcs.sunysb.edu> rick@sbcs.sunysb.edu (Rick Spanbauer) writes:
)To date I really haven't heard much out of Commodore about
)what their view of the Amiga is, saving for one statement that "We just
)want to sell machines" and "The Amiga is a sophisticated replacement
)for our C128/C64, etc lines".
Care to attribute those statements? I've been listening, and hadn't
heard those ...
jimm
--
Jim Mackraz, I and I Computing "He's hidden now, but you can see
{cbmvax,well,oliveb}!amiga!jimm The bubbles where he breathes."
- Shriekback
Opinions are my own. Comments are not to be taken as Commodore official policy.rick@sbcs.sunysb.edu (Rick Spanbauer) (05/16/89)
In article <104857@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>, page%swap@Sun.COM (Bob Page) writes: > Sounds like you want to ask CBM, not comp.sys.amiga. I suggest you > use the channel that already exists for just this purpose - the > amiga.dev/market.info conference. Already have asked CBM, Bob. No answers of substance, eg demographic breakdown of systems sold, what applications are run, etc. Just the two statements cited in the original posting. > I *know* not everybody has access to BIX, and I *know* not everybody > likes it (user interface, cost, what have you). But when you're > making decisions on bringing Amiga products to market, you have to ask > where your questions can get answered, rather than multitude of > ill-informed opinions you get from Usenet. Actually I would not be so quick to condemn the Usenet response. If nothing else is represents more of a cross section of users than the heavily developer oriented BIX forums. Any developer (myself included) is guilty of occasionally viewing the Amiga market with rose colored glasses. In this case, I truly want to hear from the trenches. > ..bob Rick Spanbauer SUNY/Stony Brook
daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie) (05/18/89)
in article <2831@sbcs.sunysb.edu>, rick@sbcs.sunysb.edu (Rick Spanbauer) says: > Keywords: marketing, market definition, future > In this case, I truly want to hear from the trenches. > Rick Spanbauer > SUNY/Stony Brook I guess the point Bob was making earlier is that the average Amiga user most likely isn't on usenet, or for that matter bix. We in the engineering trenches don't know where Commodore proper is necessarily targeting Amigas, though perhaps the best measure of that to the outside world at lest (eg, anything you can learn without getting a response in "market.info" on BIX) would be where Commodore's advertising. Which seems to currently be in music and video specialty magazines, though there was one I haven't seen reportedly in a marketing specialty magazine. As for what WE on usenet use them for, I can certainly answer for myself. I'm using an A2500 class machine right this moment, at work. I have a serial line out to cbmvax, where I'm writing this, and a serial line out to another VAX computer where I'm currently waiting for a chip simulation to finish. Each of these serial lines is backed up by an instance of the ATalk-III terminal emulator in VT100 mode. When the simulation finishes, I send the ASCII output to a program I wrote on the Amiga which will display the output of the simulator in graphic form, allowing me to pan and zoom about within the set of captured waveforms. At home (eg, the hobbiest use instead of the professional use, I guess), when I'm not doing work-work at home, I use my Amiga about 85% for writing C and C++ code, 5% for word processing type stuff, 5% telecommunications, and 5% miscellaneous stuff. -- Dave Haynie "The 32 Bit Guy" Commodore-Amiga "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: D-DAVE H BIX: hazy Amiga -- It's not just a job, it's an obsession