Merisel/Amiga
9 messages in this thread
such as the Amiga 3000 series. These machines meet the demanding
performance requirements in the areas of presentations, interactive
applications, videographics and general business.
The Amiga Series is the only microcomputer platform designed from the
ground up for multimedia applications. Each Amiga 3000 comes with
AmigaVision(TM) authoring systems, and can be made compatible with
MS-DOS(R) or an existing Novell network. Also, additional hardware and
software is available for these units, which allows users to import and
export files from the Amiga to a PC or Macintosh. Commodore's CDTV player
can be connected to a video monitor and sound system to deliver interactive
multimedia presentations.
Commodore Business Machines Inc. is a U.S.-based subsidiary of Commodore
International (NYSE: CBU), a publicly held worldwide manufacturer of
personal computers listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Commodore, CDTV
and AmigaVision are trademarks of Commodore Electronics Ltd. Amiga is a
trademark of Commodore-Amiga Inc. MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corp.
Merisel Inc. is the world's largest publicly held distributor of
microcomputer hardware and software products. The company presently stocks
products from more than 700 manufacturers for sale to 50,000 resellers
worldwide. It currently maintains 16 distribution centers that serve North
America, Europe, Latin America and Australia. Merisel sells more than
10,000 products and offers a wide range of services to support resellers
with the sales of these products.
-sja
Steve,
I think that's great news about Merisel and CBM. It can only help sales
and that will benefit all of us. I just hope they don't forget to market
the Amiga as a Personal Computer, also. Since they're taking over the
entire product line, I don't want them to concentrate on the PC clones and
CDTV, and just use vertical marketing strategy for the Amiga. They should
push the Amiga as a personal computer for home and small business use. The
logical successor to the C64 and C128. I believe they sold 800,000 C64's
last year, and the Amiga only has 3 million sold in seven years. Many Amiga
owners have more than one Amiga, so that figure doesn't even represent 3
million people. Most Amigas are sold outside the U.S. So figuring the U.S.
sales and accounting for the multi-Amiga user, I estimate there are only
about 700,000 Amiga users in the U.S. That comes to about 13,725 Amiga
users per state, counting Washington D.C. That's really a pathetic figure.
Anything Merisel can to to improve that figure will be great. Thanks for
posting the news.
Dom Fontana
Dom,
Commodore doesn't sell PC clones in the US anymore.
My dealer does; is he pushing old stock (he doesn't seem to be)?
Does this mean the end of dealers purchasing directly from CBM? Is this a
move to take the Amiga product line to two step distribution in the US,
_exclusively_? Or does CBU retain the rights for direct retail distribution
in conjunction with the Merisel deal? While this is great news for CBM and
the Amiga line, what are the implications for the pricing of the Amiga at
retail?
Michael
….from the north coast
Michael,
Even dealers who buy Macs from Merisel have to be authorized by Apple. I
am assuming (of course, there's that word) that buying Amigas will be
similar. I'm actually hoping (kind of) that you won't have to be
authorized. That will prompt computer stores to get Amigas just to try to
sell, to see if they make a profit.{mymy{xD Authorization keeps 99% of
dealers away, IMO.
Darin Arrick (My opinions do not reflect the opinions of SPC or its
employees.)
Well, Montogomery Grant continues to purchase Amigas without being an
authorized dealer, so who knows… maybe Merisel will be able to sell to
whoever they want.
Michael
….from the north coast
Hi. Darin — nice to see you online still!
Regards, Whap!penned…
Pat @Oxxi (310) 427-1227
Gosh, Merisel sure has been busy lately…
May 28th: Merisel will carry Zenith desktops, servers and notebook PCs.
Merisel: "The ZDS products rate highly in [features/price] and represent
a STRATEGIC ADDITION to our systems offering."
June 1st: Merisel announces sole national distribution for CBM computers.
Merisel: "Commodore represents a STRATEGIC ADDITION to our multimedia
products offering."
June 3td: IBM authorizes Merisel to sell IBM multimedia adapters,
displays, and software. No quotes posted yet from Merisel, but I'll bet a
doughnut that they'll say this is another STRATEGIC ADDITION to their
multimedia products offering 🙂
Don't you just love underpaid copy writers!?