@tommywright

I can understand your reason for being interested.
But you visit this site and are clearly still an Amiga fan.
I just wonder how many outside are community still think fondly of CBM and Amiga.

Time will tell no doubt.

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@TiredofLife

Quote:

I just wonder how many outside are community still think fondly of CBM and Amiga.

Two different subjects I think. C=USA is talking about only Commodore branded product for the near term.

Asiarim's marketing strategy, which includes other Commodore companies is quite clear.

Quote:

After successful showcasing our product and gaming strategy at the recent 2011 CES, we concluded that there is a momentum to build a sustainable business with high potential, based on the rich heritage and market awareness of the brand, overall positive response from different distribution and retail channels and interest from press and other media for "a comeback" of Commodore in the market as computer products & gaming company.

[snip]

Quote:

We have received huge interests from larger retailers in USA and UK once again at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Based on the indications from the channels the sales office in the USA forecast the first shipments of our bundled products and (gaming) applications to its customers in March/April 2011.

#6

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@digitex

Quote:

digitex wrote: @itix Quote: itix wrote: @damocles Answers to questions #2, #4, #5, #7, #9, #11 and #14 are missing. WHAT??? 15 questions asked, 11 answered, and the remaining 4 will be answered by Leo, as indicated. READ MUCH??

I haven't read fully all of the responses, but there is a flaw in the logic that because Intel will manufacture 1 billion CPUs, this equates to 1 billion computers sold. Clearly it doesn't, it just means Intel will make 1 billion CPUs (across all of their product range - not all of which will end up in desktop machines).

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@digitex
My previous post
Quote:

FAQ Most Frequent Answer " Errr... Dunno. Ask Leo."

Your reply
Quote:

Exaggerate much?? 4 out of 15 questions were left for Leo to reply to. Is that the ratio you use to represent "MOST" ?? 'Most" usually refers to more than 50%; 4 out of 15= approx 26%. , which most would refer to as "few" or "some". The only reason I bothered to even reply to this inane post was to show just how negative, slanted and false some of these posts are.

Take a pair of dice and roll them.
There is one combination will score 2, 2combinations will score 3..etc. There are 36 combinations in total, six of which will score 7. Seven is the most frequent result despite the fact that it is only scored 16.6% of the time.
There is a whole industry based on the priciple that many people cannot tell the difference between most frequent, and most.

Last edited by Nimrod on 12-Mar-2011 at 08:51 PM.

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@digitex

What Hyperion and everyone else may or may not have done over the past 10 years has nothing to do with your business plan. You still haven't answered the question: what makes your solution stand out enough that you realistically think you can sell a million units? Since what you're selling is a standard x86 PC in a case designed to appeal to retro fans, it's precisely that "vocal minority" that you're going to sell to. If someone neither knows nor cares what a C64 or an Amiga was, why should they buy a PC from you rather than Dell, or Apple, or any number of PC retailers out there?

@CodeSmith

Quote:

What Hyperion and everyone else may or may not have done over the past 10 years has nothing to do with your business plan. You still haven't answered the question: what makes your solution stand out enough that you realistically think you can sell a million units? Since what you're selling is a standard x86 PC in a case designed to appeal to retro fans, it's precisely that "vocal minority" that you're going to sell to. If someone neither knows nor cares what a C64 or an Amiga was, why should they buy a PC from you rather than Dell, or Apple, or any number of PC retailers out there?

You may want to clarify which product/market you are referring to. IIUC, the C64x, Vic, and Amiga all are targeting different markets.

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@damocles

So they are not all aimed at PC buying cosumers then.

@damocles

There are two possibilities. The first one is computer-in-a-keyboard designs like the C64 and the A500 were - IIRC that is what CUSA has a license to sell. I think that it's safe to say those are all targeted at the same market - people who used to love the old machines and want a new one that looks like the old ones do. I know I'll be using a C64x as my media center PC, simply because I loved my C64 when I was a kid and also nerd cred. Are there 999,999 other people out there who think like I do? that's my question.

The second possibility is that I'm remembering wrong and CUSA can call any type of computing device like a full PC or a tablet a Commodore or Amiga. In that case, they're on their own against Android and the entire PC industry because the names "Commodore" and "Amiga" don't carry any weight in those markets, and to sell a million units they're going to have to come up with something else to distinguish themselves.

It is entirely possible that CUSA is going to rely on software rather than hardware to differentiate themselves (after all, Apple merged BSD and MacOS Classic into a very successful OS; no reason why someone else couldn't do the same with Linux and AmigaOS to get "AmigaOS X"). I just didn't see any of that in their response.

@CodeSmith

Quote:

The first one is computer-in-a-keyboard designs like the C64 and the A500 were - IIRC that is what CUSA has a license to sell.

Barry Altman quote:

Quote:

Our contracts and Licensing Agreements with both Commodore B.V and Amiga Inc. grant us exclusive worldwide trademark rights for the AIO Keyboard Computer form factor. All other items fall under the "non-exclusive" category.

#6

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@number6

OK, so they're allowed to sell more than just C64 and A500 lookalikes. In that case my second point stands - what differentiates an "Amiga 2000x" with an Intel Core i5 and an nVidia GTX 460 from a Dell XPS with the same hardware enough that they expect to sell a million units? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that they're going to fail or anything like that. I'm just questioning where they get the million units sold figure - it's about an order of magnitude higher than I'd expect.

@damocles

The eu=éducation market? Lost cause, why would the education market be interested a keyboard computer? Doesn't seem a likely market. Apple & Dell pretty much own it. I have approval authority over a large university's computer purchases and if some tried to purchase a Commodore computer they'd get a big red no from me. But the pseudo retro will appeal to a number of people, between Europe and America they could possibly get 5 figure sales. I'll stick with my original assessment of 50/50 chance of success.

@CodeSmith

Those are questions for C=USA, not me.

All I know is what they owe before end of year to Asiarim, ergo they must have a degree of confidence:

Quote:

Brand licensing is an important business segment to realize the maximum brand value. During the prior fiscal year, in August 2010, the Company entered into a brand licensing arrangement with a third party to license the Keyboard Computer under the traditional form factor of the Commodore 64. Under the license agreement, the third party is expected to pay an initial royalty of Euro 250,000 on or before December 31, 2011. At the date of this report, the third party has not formally submitted the computer for our approval and has not paid the initial royalty.

source SEC filing 18-Feb-2011

It's only March of course, and the above is from Asiarim's February report, so this information may have changed.

#6

Last edited by number6 on 13-Mar-2011 at 02:58 AM.

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@persia

Quote:

The eu=éducation market? Lost cause, why would the education market be interested a keyboard computer? Doesn't seem a likely market. Apple & Dell pretty much own it. I have approval authority over a large university's computer purchases and if some tried to purchase a Commodore computer they'd get a big red no from me. But the pseudo retro will appeal to a number of people, between Europe and America they could possibly get 5 figure sales. I'll stick with my original assessment of 50/50 chance of success.

That would more then likely be for the Vic series for the institutional work since it's going to be cheap, space saving since it's a low profile AIO keyboard that has low power consumption. It may not fly for some western countries, but it should prove to be a viable alternative to big box computers in developing countries educational institutions as well as private institutions. I don't think Barry is referring to computer labs that will require horsepower for compiles, but standard client/server applications that a teacher or school officer worker would need to do their daily work on.

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@number6

If they pay EUR10 per computer sold (out of a few hundred EUR, so less than 10%), they only have to sell 25,000 computers to meet their obligation. That is a reasonable figure, and unless they completely stuff things up they should be able to meet it without much difficulty.

Edit: EUR, not $...

Last edited by CodeSmith on 13-Mar-2011 at 03:49 AM.

Did no one tell CUSA that the ugly C64 case design (quick & dirty reuse of VIC-20 case design) was retired in the mid-1980s and replaced with a much sleeker, more stylish and dare I say it more Amiga-like case to create the C64C...?
So why are they trying to revive the ugly brown box design which was put to a well deserved death approx. 25 years ago, and rejecting the superior case design?

Last edited by Minuous on 14-Mar-2011 at 11:19 PM.

@Minuous

Actually, many original C64ers prefer the breadbox design to C64c. Me included.

But even so, they will do a C64c replica also for those who prefer the slimmer model.

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@damocles

Quote:

That would more then likely be for the Vic series for the institutional work since it's going to be cheap, space saving since it's a low profile AIO keyboard that has low power consumption. It may not fly for some western countries, but it should prove to be a viable alternative to big box computers in developing countries educational institutions as well as private institutions. I don't think Barry is referring to computer labs that will require horsepower for compiles, but standard client/server applications that a teacher or school officer worker would need to do their daily work on.

That would sound like a potentially good area to market it in assuming the price is low.
i haven't seen any indication of price anywhere though.
I suppose if they could arrange for advanced orders in large numbers, then saving could be made with bulk orders.
So you would most likely need to be looking at education authorities and not individual schools for instance.

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@WolfToTheMoon

You might want to check out the new posts:

Commodore at CES 2011

#6

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@number6

Quote:

All I know is what they owe before end of year to Asiarim, ergo they must have a degree of confidence:

If I am reading that correctly, that was based on launching the C64x which at the time was projected to do so in 4Q10. With this now being in mid March, I think it's safe to say it won't happen until April (2Q11).

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@damocles

Quote:

If I am reading that correctly, that was based on launching the C64x which at the time was projected to do so in 4Q10. With this now being in mid March, I think it's safe to say it won't happen until April (2Q11).

Right, but my comment merely refers to a commitment of about 350,000 USD, which I don't view lightly. That's why I said I saw "a degree of confidence".

#6

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