COMPUTE anger
As an person who works for an Amiga dealership, let me attempt to
explain to you the merits (yes, merits) of the price hike of the
A2000.
On the surface, it seems ridiculous to raise the price of the A2000 to
the current suggested retail price. Consider this however. Amiga
dealerships have been suffering from having products that don't
return enough profit for the dealers to survive. Since the A500
power up program is over I can tell you that Amiga dealers made about
$18 per machine sold. Tell me, how many computers sales would it
take to keep the doors open with 'profit' like that.
Commodore realized that the existing dealer base is well on its way
to vanishing unless profitability was restored. The A2000 has been a
dead product ever since the A3000 was released. The _only_ people
who buy A2000s are people who want the video toaster. Video people
are used to spending larger coins than the average "I gotta git it
cheap" Amiga customer. Commodore decided that they would like to
make more money, and felt that the dealers should be able to make
more money, and we are!
To date, the only people to complain about the price of the A2000 are
Amiga owners who all think they can run Commodore better. Not a
single video professional who wants to do video has complained about
the price. Remember the suggested retail price is not necesarily the
price the dealer is going to charge for the A2000.
As an Amiga owner I know where you are coming from, but as some one
who likes to bring home some coins from the dealership I know where
Commodore is coming from.