In just a couple of days, I'll be on a plane to Calgary, Canada for the
AmiJAM '95 show. I'll be giving a couple of speeches there.
Sorry for the delays in getting this issue out. Both Katie and I have been
working quite a bit lately, and the magazine release just kept slipping
farther and farther away...
(Incidentally, for those of you who think AR looks good, it's all her
fault. I have very little to do with it. If she didn't lay this thing
out, it would never get done.)
So, what's there to talk about? Well, I just got a press release from
Amiga Technologies (and so did you, it's in the issue.) Pretty standard
stuff, the sort of commitment-type rhetoric we heard at the May 30th press
conference. Nothing earth-shattering like "Hey, we hired some engineers"
or "Hey, here's our marketing plan for the next 6 months."
SPEAKING of marketing, here's some news. (Hey, we included this press
release, too!) The Amiga 4000T, 040/25, 6 megs of memory and 540 megs of
hard drive space, is being set at an initial street price of $3500.
Now that you've picked yourself up off the floor, let me explain.
Ed Goff, legal counsel for Amiga Technologies, former legal counsel and VP
of Commodore, and de facto head of North American operations for Amiga
Technologies, was the "bad guy" who got to declare this price. In a phone
conversation with me, he claimed it was due to production costs, and that
the price could/would drop after 1995. I was not the first to point out to
him the fact that it put the Amiga in a very uncomfortable price position
against the competition, which can deliver more raw horsepower for much
less money.
I don't know where it goes from here. Goff and Amiga Technologies
certainly haven't heard the last about this price, as it is not a good
sign. Of course, if they sell all their inventory at this price the day
they release the machines, they're utter geniouses and will have raised
copious amounts of operating cash. Still, I'd like to see a 4000 that I
might be able to afford, maybe, someday...
Ah well. Enough for one issue, there's plenty to read, so off you go.
Jason
compt.sys.editor.desk By: Jason Compton