#FJMORA@WMMVS.BITNET (03/18/88)
In Info-Atari16 Digest V88 #120, rjung@castor.usc.edu (robert Jung) writes: > >In article <8803022013.AA23316@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> #FJMORA@WMMVS.BITNET >writes: >>And some retailers complain that since Atari purchased Federated, they >>dump all the STs they make into the Federated warehouse, and that >>independant retailers just can't have STs. Is that true? > > Not from what I've heard. There's a local Atari-only store near L.A. >called Logical Choice, and they've been getting Mega ST's and other hardware >without problems. I've heard, however, that there is a shortage of ST's in >America in general (apparently they're going over to Europe, where everybody >is buying them like hotcakes [can anyone confirm?])...Seems us AmericAtarians >will have to wait awhile... > > On a similar vein, Sam Tramiel/Neil Harris admitted on GEnie that they've >been neglecting the US market quite a bit, to focus on overseas sales... > > > --R.J. I am a French student and I found Atari France customer support very nice. In fact, most of the maintainance is done by retailers. But Atari DOES support you in this country. Sure, the retailers are complaining -- but it is about the commercial policy (i.e. big distributors first). So STs are selling fast. And the 520 is very popular as a video game machine because you don't have to buy a color monitor, not even a RF modulator: you can directly plug your ST into a standard French TV set, because all sets have a "Peritel" interface accepting RGB, sync and sound signals. I know that the situation in Germany is quite good too. The Germans were Commodore fans since a long time and most developers and retailers followed Tramiel and switched to Atari. They are very technicaly minded, and the German ST-Magazin is probably the best I know in the world. BTW, German developers gave us the GFA line, the Abacus books and a lot of amazing tools. I read that in The Nederlands, the ST is used nation-wide for the education. So guess what they sell in this country. Thus, the ST is very popular in Europe, and the support is good overseas. But it doesn't give Atari USA the right to neglect the US market. I'm still waiting for my 1040 ST (ordered 1/21/88) from Computer Mail Order, Inc. They told me this Monday (3/14) that they didn't get any ST from Atari since last December. The answers of CMO customers are piling up. I will summarize soon. Please give me your opinion if you ever had a contact with CMO. Regards, Frederic Mora The College of William and Mary Dept. of Computer Science Williamsburg, VA. 23185 USA ************************************************************************** * * * "Was uns nicht vertoetet, verstaerkt uns." * * Friedrich Nietzsche * * What does not kill us makes us stronger * * * **************************************************************************