a218@mindlink.UUCP (Charlie Gibbs) (03/21/89)
<flame on>
Why is the A2286 bridge board so damned expensive?
I believe in the Amiga, and promote it at every opportunity.
Nevertheless, there's a lot of MS-DOS hardware and software out there;
I bought my original A1000 three years ago with money I made writing
an MS-DOS application. At the time, I paid (overpaid?) $600 (Canadian)
for the A1020 5 1/4-inch drive, hoping that the Transformer could hold
me until I got my hands on a Sidecar.
Needless to say, the Transformer was a disappointment - no
graphics, and excruciatingly slow speed. And then the Sidecar came
out - at a price that XT clone manufacturers could match for an entire
box, complete with monitor! Needless to say, I declined.
When the 2500 came out, I once again fell in love. The MS-DOS
software business has been good, so I got one. All I needed now, I
thought, was a bridge board and I could move my MS-DOS development
right into the same box. I would, of course, need a fast 80286, since
an 8088 just doesn't have enough power for serious work any more.
And then the A2286 was announced - at a list price of C$2495. I
was shocked (along with everyone else). I could buy an AT clone for
the same price, complete with case, power supply, keyboard, monitor,
and hard disk! Furthermore, it would run as fast as 12MHz, blowing
the doors off the A2286.
Doesn't anyone at Commodore have any idea what's going on out
there? I know there's probably a lot of A2286/Janus development costs
to recover - but a potential buyer doesn't see any of that. All he
sees is a board that costs as much as an entire machine - and the
machine isn't included.
I don't WANT to buy an MS-DOS machine. I want to do it all on
my Amiga. But I need MS-DOS capability for my work. Commodore has
brought out one disappointment after another: first the Transformer,
then the Sidecar, and now the A2286. I wish they'd stop stringing us
along like this, only to let us down time and time again. I've been
kicked in the teeth often enough - looks like it's time to shop for
an AT clone.
<flame off>
Charlie_Gibbs@mindlink.UUCP "A genealogist looks up the family tree.
A gynecologist looks up the family bush."cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) (03/24/89)
Think about it. What is an Amiga, what is a PC, and who would want both?
Commodore _makes_ PC Clones. There not exactly competitive but since they
have a better reputation than Compaq in a lot of Non-US type places you
can understand how they can sell them.
What is an Amiga with a bridgecard? It is a game machine with a humongous
software base! One of the the perpetual complaints of many Amiga owners
is that "Gee, on the PC I can get Ventura Publisher" or some other
product produced by a company that can invest _millions_ of dollars
into R&D. So how does one go about getting _Amiga_ programs that are
as good as the PC equivalents. Well, belive me it costs the same amount
of money to write a Ventura Publisher for the Amiga as it does for the
IBM PC. The difference being that there are 20 *million* PCs and only
1 million Amigas. The number of copies you will sell, will in general
be 1/20th of the number you sell for the PC. So given the exact same
margins you have to charge 20X as much. Your $50 PC program costs
$1000 on the Amiga! Yuck ola! But wait, $50 and $800 for the Bridgecard
gets me the same functionality! See the problem? The Amiga software
vendor just went out of business. To bad, the Amiga was such a nice
machine.
Economic reality. It's a bitch but something we all have to keep in mind.
The formulas :
Cost/Unit = Manufacturing Cost + (Development Cost / Market Size)
Retail = Cost/Unit / (Distributor Markup * Dealer Markup)
Follow them or die. Not an easy choice. These two formulas will show
you *every* way that you can adjust your costs/profits and whether you
eat or starve. Note that for Software manufacturing cost is practically
nil anyway so generally you don't even have to think about lowering that.
There are also some guidelines, like "No Distributor wants to carry something
that makes them less than 40%." or the demand curve for games approaches
zero as the retail price approaches $50. Things like that. These you find
out either by market research, or that old standby hard knocks.
In case you are wondering most of the "constants" above are really
interrelated formulas. For instance, Market Size and Manufacturing
Cost are directly related by the economics of scale. It is cheaper
on a per unit basis to manufacture 1000 units than it is to make
100 units. Determining something like Development Cost is a science
that entire books have been written about. So while it's easy to say
it isn't exactly easy to compute. For small businesses you can always
pick some constants and plug them into your spreadsheet to see how
the numbers roll.
Anyway, that is my guess why the A2286 is so expensive. It isn't
designed to either a) compete with Commodore's clones, or b) to
undermine the Amiga software market by making it more economical
to buy it and a software package rather than a native Amiga
software package.
--Chuck McManis
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.paolucci@snll-arpagw.UUCP (Sam Paolucci) (03/25/89)
In article <95636@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> cmcmanis@sun.UUCP (Chuck McManis) writes:
->Economic reality. It's a bitch but something we all have to keep in mind.
->The formulas :
->
-> Cost/Unit = Manufacturing Cost + (Development Cost / Market Size)
->
-> Retail = Cost/Unit / (Distributor Markup * Dealer Markup)
->
->Anyway, that is my guess why the A2286 is so expensive. It isn't
->designed to either a) compete with Commodore's clones, or b) to
->undermine the Amiga software market by making it more economical
->to buy it and a software package rather than a native Amiga
->software package.
Another economic formula:
if ((cost of A2286) > (cost of PC clone))
(buy PC clone);
else
(buy A2286);
Note: The PC clone usually comes with a lot more stuff on it than just
a board.
->--Chuck McManis
--
-+= SAM =+-
"the best things in life are free"
ARPA: paolucci@snll-arpagw.llnl.gov