## Results of The Escom/U.S. Distributor Meeting

### Held in Philadelphia, PA USA on Friday July 21, 1995
Shane R. Monroe (smonroe@awod.com)

#### Representing Dark Unicorn Productions and Better Concepts, inc.

### Note: A non-disclosure agreement was established at this meeting and therefore certain items cannot be discussed here.

This is Shane Monroe reporting on the conference held in Philly regarding the distribution and pricing of the Amiga computer platform in the United States.

I will organize this in several parts, so if there is a part that you are not interested in you may skip over it by looking for the next header flanked by asterisks.

### Who was there

Those attending the conference are listed below. The number of representatives present is indicated by parenthesis.

Petro Tyschtschenko (1)

Senior Vice President Escom and General Manager of Amiga Technologies.

Ed Goff (1)

Attorney, more or less leading the U.S. side of Amiga Technologies. The man we have all grown to love over the last several months! ;)

Jeff (1; missed his last name)

Amiga Technologies' Engineer and the only one missing a tie.

Better Concepts, Inc. (3)

Hardware/Software dealer

Software Hut (3)

Hardware/Software dealer

Lively Computers (2)

Hardware/Software dealer

Micropace (1)

Hardware/Software dealer

Metropolitan Computers (1)

Hardware/Software dealer

CEI (2)

Hardware/Software/Misc. Amiga dealer/distributor

Centaur Development (2)

Makers of the Opalvision and the most verbose people at the table.

Several companies that were invited didn't make it, according to Mr. Goff. Most of the presentation was given by Petro with commentary by Ed and Jeff. Lively & Software Hut were very quiet for the most part, while Alex Amor of CEI seemed to be the meeting referee to keep us on topic as the day went on. Micropace had quite a bit to say, as did Metropolitan. The most input came from Centaur Development who spoke a great deal of the time. Better Concepts Inc (BCI) also had a lot to say and generated a lot of comment (as well as I think a bit of hate and discontent! ;)

### What Was Said (Overview)

The meeting was really quite open ended, especially after lunch. The better part of the morning was taken with a very interesting overview of ESCOM as well as a round-the-table introduction of everyone present. A few jokes passed, like some of my previous comments about him when Ed introduced himself.

We then discussed configuration of the new Amiga 4000T and started talking about everyone's favorite topic: price. Petro solicited a price from the attendee's and we talked a little about other Amiga 4000T related topics, as well as other machine distribution.

We broke for lunch and returned to have Petro get to the meat of the meeting and give the distributors a "how do you say it? Bottom of the line?" price of the machines.

We then discusses numbers of units the attendee's believed could be sold and gave input in that general topic.

CEI made it VERY plain to this attendee that he was solely there for the distribution information of the A4000T and really didn't care a lot about the other topics and didn't want anyone not having some volume buying power to be involved in the remainder of the meeting. At that point, distributors interested (and capable) in signing a distributor contract made appointments to speak with Petro alone later.

This is where BCI's involvement ended at the meeting. I doubt that any of the distributors that stayed after this would be even SLIGHTLY interested in discussing their end of the meeting, so this is more or less where the meeting ended.

## The Amiga 4000T's Future in the U.S.

I will bring this topic up first, since this seems to be the question on everyone's lips. Here are the common questions and the answers that *I AM ALLOWED TO GIVE*. None of these are falsehoods, but on the other hand are as vague as I have to be to keep from breaking the NDA.

1. Will Amiga 4000T be available in the U.S. for sure?

A. At this point, yes they will. I think that the major point of this meeting was to determine the very future of the machine in the U.S. Based on the response from the attendee's, I believe production will continue and machines will indeed be available.

2. When will they be available?

A. The first week of September is what was said.

3. How many will be made?

A. Unknown at this time. I imagine that has a lot to do with how many the distributors told Petro they could move. Petro mentioned the number 20,000. I believe that there will be a good deal ready to go by September. Pre-sales will have a lot to do with it also, I bet.

4. Will they be available to everyone or just video guru's and big companies?

A. The distributors seemed to have plans to sell them to any dealer who wanted them, so companies like BCI, Software Hut, etc. should be carrying them.

5. How much!!!!?????

A. The question on everyone's lips, isn't it? It is also one of the very few bits of information I cannot divulge. The bottom of the truth is this. Distributors and dealers will be determining the final costs. Everyone at the table was revealed the 'distributors price' for the A4000T (that is NOT negotiable and volume will have no impact on). Without disclosure, I can tell you that every person at the table could *very easily* live with the quoted price (and they were ALL really pissed at the $3500 tag too). That should help you a bit. The street price, in my humble opinion, will be under $3000 but I cannot be quoted. It is out of everyone but the distributor's hands.

6. Specifications???

A. Another big question. Here is the layout. A4000T with an 040 or 060 processor, 512 MB or gig drive (this changed throughout the day, so I never got it quite right - assume it is a half gig), with 6 megs of RAM. Basically, what we already knew.

7. Is the bottle-necked memory handling of the original A4000 still there?

A. Unfortunately so. However, it was my impression that the 060 board would rectify that problem.

8. Who is making the 060 card? Is it a Cyberstorm?

A. This was not disclosed to the group and no one asked.

9. Is it the machine we are seeing on the Internet and in the latest Amazing Computing?

A. No sir. The machine that is going around in picture is what I would call an Artist's Rendition and it is NOT what the machine actually looks like. Apparently the real machine is in a converted PC tower case. The interesting thing I heard was that the turbo button normally used for the PC is now an audio cutout switch.

10. Why the hell is this machine costing more now than an A4000 did at the end of the Commodore reign?

A. This is the answer we got over and over again. This is also the answer to the 'why are the CD32s sitting in Philly being sold for $400?' question. The parts being put together just cost that much. This is what Jeff and Ed continued to tell us (mainly BCI who just can't believe it still) about the price tag. Apparently they are going into the old Phillipean factory and pulling certain parts off the motherboards for the newer model. Price, I suspect, will go down after the first 6-12 months or so, when the ramp up costs are paid, etc.

11. Where are they being made?

A. They are all being made and assembled here in the U.S. As of now, the European market is not interested in the machine and Petro says that there are no orders placed there for the A4000T. If the machine IS brought in to Europe, they will be made in U.S.A. and assembled in Europe.

### General Info

The feeling I got was that the entire party was mainly interested in getting A4000T's to the people who already own Amigas and want more power or for existing Amiga 4000s who need the space. The primary reason for this feeling is that there are to be ZERO dollars spent on advertising in the U.S. by ESCOM/AT. Absolutely none. This was said by Petro himself. If this doesn't scare you, it should. However, NONE of the rest of the attendees other than BCI seemed to give a single care to this lack of marketing. Jeff even said that there was no way we could possibly take on the PC market. Pretty bad when your own engineer says there is no chance. This leads me to believe that the Amiga platform in the U.S. will remain a very isolated and unrespected niche market and once the demand is filled for immediate needs, that the market here will simply die. I could be wrong but that is how I see it.

All attempts by myself and BCI to improve the machine's configuration to bring it to the 90's failed. The addition of even a cheap 2x speed CD-ROM STANDARDIZED into the Amiga 4000T failed miserably. I don't understand why these guys aren't interested in entering the 90's generation. Adding the equipment as an addition later won't demonstrate a commitment to the machine's future. Again, my humble opinion.

## The A1200

This meeting was directed mainly at the A4000T in U.S.A. but at the same time, we have a lot of info here for you on the A1200 as well. Again, we will put it in Q&A form.

1. Is the U.S. going to get A1200s?

A. This was the most infuriating part of the conference. Ed said "There is no market in the U.S. for A1200s". Jeff and seemingly Petro seemed to agree. To this, BCI told all of them they needed to come to our offices and answer the phone for about a week and then tell us again that there is no market. This wasn't well received. In any event, there are no plans to bring this machine to the U.S. Ed assured us that if we needed machines we could get them, but the overall impression was that there is not going to be anything done with it here. Sad.

2. Are there any new specs for the A1200?

A. Well, we all got to look at the new tech sheets (which was neat), but alas, there were all in German. My poor German seemed to tell me that the machine was the same configuration as before.

3. How many are to be made?

A. The number of 100,000 was put out. 40,000 of which have ALREADY been sold (to whom was not revealed). Basically, it is assumed that 30,000 or so are for Germany, 30-40,000 for U.K., and 10,000 for Italy.

4. Where are they being built?

A. This will likely be new news for most of you. They are being made in a factory near Bordeaux, France. The company who owns it, SELECTRON (if I understood his pronunciation) is a U.S. based company that has factories all over the world. Interesting note is that this factory also makes Silicon Graphics workstations too, as well as lots of other things from dental parts to automobile parts. The factory is handling every aspect of the A1200s including assembly, boxing, etc. etc. ESCOM has a sweet deal there, and IMHO, will not be changing anytime soon.

5. The cost?

A. Not mentioned at the meeting.

6. Where will they be available and when?

A. September, as the A4000T. They are planned to be in over 1200 stores throughout Europe (a breakdown was shown, but that isn't really important here). They will also be available in very popular catalogs that have everything from frying pans to electronics in them. The European market will be SATURATED with A1200s. I love it. At least the U.K. developers (you listening OCEAN and TEAM 17???) will have a good reason to stay/come back.

7. What is the word on the A1200CD unit that C= U.K. halted production on before it was released?

A. Not a priority (take that however you want to; I know how *I* am taking it). There was a mostly working prototype at the end, but the lack of FMV adaptability (and other things, I suspect) stopped it from hitting the market. Don't expect to ever see it, so stop waiting and get a Squirrel and drive 3rd party.

8. What about the A1300, and 030 based A1200s, etc.?

A. Not divulged at the meeting. I really doubt that they exist at this time.

### General Info

The A1200, IMHO, will be a landmark success with the ESCOM chain and marketing power there in Europe (they send out almost 40 MILLION what they call high-flyers to the public every year for advertising). They owned over 50% of the Pentium market for their PC based side. These guys are rocking over there and what they tell the market to buy, the market will buy. Damn shame it isn't happening over here.

As for the end of the A1200 in U.S.A., get your comments and letters ready and send them to me and I will forward them to Mr. Goff. Perhaps then they will see. The attractive price tag and performance of the A1200 (especially with some RAM and a nice drive) is exceptional. This is the market I think they should break open the U.S.A. with and I told them all so. Negative.

## CD32

God, this is the worst part of all. Q&A time.

1. How many CD32s are we looking at getting this year?

A. Absolutely none. Zilch. "No market for the CD32" either. This is both U.S. and Europe. I really like the CD32 and I will miss the development for it dearly. Even with the 70,000+ units that have been sold, I doubt that there will be much more use for it. Ed said that it isn't dead, but 'not a priority'. Figure it out.

2. So I should just throw my machine out the door?

A. No, there is still the SX-1 avenue to get a basic A1200 and you can always network it to your existing Amiga (or even the new A4000T since they won't make a CD-ROM in it). I would suspect support for another 6 months at best (Dark Unicorn Productions has several projects on the way so there will be at least one developer - blatant advertising plug). I just hope more developers will take the CD-ROM route and force Amiga people to get CD-ROM drives to be competitive. You guys like Softwood and Digita need to take note.

3. What about the 'new' CD32 we were told about in 1st Quarter 1996?

A. As Norman Bates' mother would say "Its ALL LIES!". According to Jeff, there is no new CD32 on the shelf, nor was there ever. The Amiga console days are PROBABLY over (read on).

4. What is all this talk about CD32s for kiosk use?

A. This seems to be the only thing ESCOM is willing to admit the CD32 is good for. I believe that they will continue to make the boards for the CD32 if nothing else for this purpose.

5. Who is Viscorp and what do they have to do with the CD32?

A. You can read about this company and their plans in detail in Amiga Report Issue 313. The only thing wrong with this article (sorry Jason), is that there is NO OFFICIAL licence yet. There are discussions only at this point. The basic thing is that Viscorp will be making a set top box with some very exciting features out of the CD32 box. Apparently a prototype is completed. Every developer should contact them and see what we can do to support them in this endeavor. They are likely to be the only one's successful in the U.S. with Amiga technology.

[While I have not been able to test this version of the story, it was quite plainly stated as a fact by Viscorp that a license agreement was in place. I have no idea why Amiga Technologies would deny this, or why Viscorp would lie about having one, either way. -Jason]

### General Info

For those of you who know me well, you realize that this was the most depressing part of the meeting. The CD32 while CURRENTLY isn't up to snuff with the latest consoles had a lot of selling points. In its early days, it could have owned the market. Now...Sigh. After all, CD-I is still selling.

### Interesting Points

Here are some very interesting tidbits I picked up from the conference. Take a peek.

1. Alex Amor told us that NewTek is no longer going to be making the Video Toaster for the Amiga once the current 140 or so are sold. This is due to lack of certain parts (you buy that crap?) and Alex said that they are working with NewTek to reverse this game plan. Until then, if you ever wanted one, you better get it now.

2. Centaur Development stated that the Video Processor/Roaster chip is DONE and ready to go, pending the results of the conference and the outlook for the future of the Amiga. ALthough they didn't say it, I believe that it will indeed ship now that there is a commitment to the A4000T's future. This should healthily assume the position of the Video Toaster in U.S. and Europe.

3. FMV seems to be a dead issue. Unless the third party developers such as CEI and the unknown U.K. company I mentioned in my previous periodicals continue development on FMV cards (looking unlikely now, eh?), FMV is an entirely dead issue. The rumored FMV Zorro compatible card of C= is also 'low priority' although a working prototype exists/existed, I doubt it will ever see the light of day.

4. Petro had the most best hotel room of all with no windows...

5. Service Management Group, the people responsible for some of the excellent service we received with the Amiga's past warranty service, will once again be handling warranty and repair service for ALL Amigas, including the new A4000T. Parts for the older machines should be available soon.

That is about it. If you all have any other questions, feel free to send them to my EMail address at the top of this document.

Shane Monroe, DUP/BCI