#Demand for Amigas
14 messages in this thread
Greetings to All,
I am working on an article about the demand for Amigas. Seems like
they are selling for a premium and are hard to get. Any anecdotal information
would be very much appreciated. Any theories about what happened to the Amiga
inventory? One dealer told me today Commodore had some machines on its
inventory lists which turned out not to be there.
Thanks.
— Dan Stets
Philadelphia Inquirer
There's not much of a leap of logic here… Companies that require Amiga
products for their businesses, whether it be Toaster systems, InfoChannel
systems, or whatever, started buyin 'em up as soon as they realized the
doors were about to shut. (At least that's my theory).
Steve —
I think your theory is right, but they have kept on buying them. A
dealer from Florida told me that Video Toaster and Scala were creating all the
demand.
— Dan
I believe it. Toaster and Scala are the two best applications ever developed
for the Amiga.
Those two products are likely the only ones to create demand for Amigas
with inflated prices.
Dale L. Larson Intangible Assets Manufacturing (info@iam.com)
"That's the best part about being crazy. You see things no one else can see."
You're undoubtedly right. But is that demand itself significant enough to show
that the technology has a future, if someone is willing to invest the bucks to
get it up and running again. As you probably know, Scala hopes to migrate to a
PC platform by next year.
— Dan
No, you probably can't sell enough scala and toaster boxes alone to have a
profitable company. If you try to mark up your product enough to make a
profit in that market, you become too expensive to compete for more than
the next few months (until the right software is available elsewhere). The
Amiga has always been competitive mostly on price. Until a couple of
years ago, when the high-end machines became overpriced (and now they're
really overpriced). A few years ago, if you asked me whether to push the
Amiga primarily as a game box or as a "real computer," I would
unhesitatingly have responded "real computer." Now I'm not so sure.
CD32 makes a great Scala delivery platform (although it'd be a little
better with a couple of built-in serial ports). It is also a great video
game console. If it were marketed with big bucks (ala nintendo and sega),
it could sell like hotcakes. If a steady supply were available, you might
find people developing multimedia apps with Scala on a PC and then
realizing that buying 10,000 CD32s for kiosks (or whatever) is much more
economical than buying 10,000 PCs for kiosks, and so using Scala on CD32.
Hence, Scala being available on PCs could sell more Amigas, if the company
with the Amiga technology does the right things. Moving millions of CD32s
each year would save current Amiga technology, at least for another year
or two.
With a huge market for CD32, the "upgrade" to a real computer, the A1200,
would be a natural for many home users to consider making, and A1200 sales
would continue at a brisk pace.
A right-priced A4000 is the right box to develop for CD32 and the A1200 —
sales to developers alone ought to keep it profitable.
Could it be done? Sure, I think it could. You need a lot of money and a
lot of marketing smarts right now. The number of original titles which
you'll see first on CD32 is going to decline fast (if it hasn't dropped
severely already) without a lot more units shipping. The foothold held by
nintendo and sega and 3do is growing all the time. (As soon as 3do gets
to about $300, it'll probably take off like crazy — I hear good titles
are finally available for it.)
Of course, if you get your foot back in the US market with millions of
CD32s, and you make a good profit on the way, you're that much closer to
being able to successfully introduce next-generation Amiga technology.
Dale L. Larson Intangible Assets Manufacturing (info@iam.com)
"That's the best part about being crazy. You see things no one else can see."
Migrate is the wrong word–support PC is the correct word.
At this time Scala has no plans to leave the Amiga community.
-mark=
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
I'm definately paying more for Amigas now than I was a few months ago.
Right now there is plenty of demand and very little supply.
Dan,
Here is my anecdote.
I bought an Amiga a few months ago without knowing anything about the Commodore
situation. The purpose was to produce video. Then the Commodore situation
happens. And I start worrying about how to protect my investment in an
Amiga/Toaster etc. I ask what will happen if my Toaster breaks down, so I
decide I need another Amiga – plus, I may as well equip it to do animation so
as to free up the other system.
A dealer calls me and offers to sell me one of his last 3 that he has gotten
special from Commodore – without a CPU or hard drive – for about $1100 US. I
say yes. Later, he indicates that he felt I was committed to buying a whole
bunch of peripherals, memory etc. So, to further protect myself, I land up
buying a warp engine, and a bunch of RAM. Meantime, my colleague checks out the
price another store is offering their rare AMiga for – about $2,000 CDN and
only 1 or 2 left. So – in Toronto, Amiga 4000's are rare, expensive, and make
sure you talk through all the details with your dealer.
Well..this is probably much too long, giving you both the demand and supply
side of the anecdote.
Thanks, by the way, for your reporting results into the forum. Much
appreciated.
Michael
We sell CD32s on the French market (for professionals only) and we used to
get our machines from C= France. When C= France closed, we used to get our
machines from C= Germany. Alwin Stumpf told us there were plenty of
machines, say until November… He did even start up a C+ subsidiary
called Amiga Computer Export France, located in the same offices as C=
Germany. He talked of 40.000 CD32, plus 40.000 other not yet assembled. He
told us these machines were about to be built, which suprised us a lot, as
all plants are closed! Then one day, he said he had sold the entire C=
Germany stock to a big company in Germany. This company is called Batavia
M. Savatsky & Co KG, as seems to be a huge German stock managers company.
This company has sold parts of the stock to various dealers that had a
strong demand. It is clear that we now have difficulties to find CD32 (we
need scart-fitted CD32s as the French laws demand a scart port on video
equipements). Prices for big quantities are very low (around $130 per
unit), but prices quickly raise for small quantities…
My company is now developing on 3DO, just in case… That pisses me off,
but we do not have any alternative now…
BTW, you could drop a line to Mick Tinker, who has settled up the London
Transport Museum interactive part, using loads of custom-networked CD32s &
A4000, and who's also experiencing the CD32 seeking joy! You can reach him
at index@cix.compulink.co.uk. He may tell you more… You can of course
mention my name.
Yours,
Fred.
Frederic Botton from Paris, France
fbotton@cix.compulink.co.uk
Can't relate any personal experiences, Dan, but Doug McGregor, president of
Commodore Canada, informally told me that sales of product were terrific
following the liquidation announcement, and continued that way until stock ran
out.
Commodore Canada can be reached at (416) 499-4292. While Doug may
understandably be reluctant to talk to "the press", you may have an inside
track here. I have been faxing copies of your articles to Commodore Canada,
and I gather that they are seized upon and read eagerly by all the few
remaining employees. So it may be that "I wrote those articles that Jim B sent
you" just *might* get you access.
–Jim