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GEnie Dateline Atari with Bob Brodie 1993 06
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Friday Night Special Edition Real Time Conference
June 4, 1993
Dateline Atari! with Bob Brodie
Host - Lou Rocha
<[Lou] ST.LOU> Welcome to the June installement of Dateline Atari!
with Bob Brodie, Director of Communications for Atari Corp. We are
indeed privileged and appreciative to have Bob participate in this
exclusive monthly conference with Atari users here on GEnie. As
June flowers begin to blossom, Atari users are posting news of
Falcon purchases. In the Bulletin Board there are daily messages
from ecstatic new owners. New Falcon topics are opening as
software notes are shared and compared. There is a very definite
upbeat mood in the Atari ST RoundTable now that the Falcons have
arrived in large numbers. If that were not enough, we have heard
that the 65 meg hard drives have been upgraded to 80 meg units at
NO EXTRA COST! I guess that is the reward for being patient :-)
Tonight, Bob has returned to bring us the latest news on Falcon
availability. He will also give GEnie users the first official
announcements about Atari's newest product. Bob.... the curtain is
rising.
<BOB-BRODIE> Welcome to the June '93 edition of Dateline Atari!
Settle back into your chair for a few minutes. Make sure you have
your capture buffer turned on, or be sure to go to the library
tomorrow morning to d/l the transcript from tonight's session;
I've got lots of info to share with you tonight!
First, I'm pleased to announce that shipments of Falcon030s are
continuing with units for dealers to sell at this point. We
presently have over 140 (yes, that is One Hundred Forty) dealers
on board, in over 40 states. This is much better than where we
were a year ago. We're very pleased that our decision to go with
the new dealer agreement has brought us leverage to bring on new
dealers! In fact, earlier today I got a call from one of our
"holdout", older dealers that hadn't signed the agreement yet.
He's having a change of heart, and I'm looking forward to him
carrying Falcon030s. This is a very good sign!!!
Also, we're pleased that we've brought on board another of our
longtime partners, Pacific Software Supply, to be a distributor
for the Atari Falcon030. We will be working very closely with
them to ensure that the dealers that they sign up meet all of the
criteria that we have established for Atari dealers. All of the
dealers that Pacific Software brings on board will be signing the
same dealer agreements as the dealers that we deal directly with.
Of course, this means that Pacific is now also carrying a host of
accessories for the Atari Falcon030 as well, like the sometimes
elusive SCSI-II cables, a host of Falcon software, VGA monitors,
and lots of other goodies for our dealers. In short, the dealers
are getting another terrific resource to work with!!
Some of you may recall that I indicated in the last
Dateline Atari! we were still a ways off from being able to ship
SpeedoGDOS and MultiTOS to existing Atari owners. Both of
these products are shipping with Falcon030s. Today we received
the diskettes back from the duplicators, and the manuals arrived a
couple of days ago, so we're actually ahead of schedule at this
point! We have begun assembling the packages so our customers
will be able to purchase MultiTOS and SpeedoGDOS along with 14
BitStream fonts within a couple of weeks!!!
The manuals for Atari Works have still not arrived, which means
that we are still ON SCHEDULE <grin> for that product. Works
should be in stock in approximately fourteen more days.
The retail price for the products to current users has been
slightly adjusted, and is now as follows:
SpeedoGDOS - $64.95
MultiTOS- $59.95
Atari Works- $118.95
We have also done an incremental upgrade to the Atari Falcon030 in
our on-going efforts to provide our users with the best units we
possibly can. We have upgraded the Atari Falcon030 from a 65 meg
internal hard disk drive to an 80 megabyte hard disk drive. We
were able to secure the new mechanisms at the very same price as
the 65s, so there will be no increase in price to our customers!
Currently, Atari Falcon030s are shipping with the following
programs on the drives:
MultiTOS
SpeedoGDOS
Landmines
Breakout
CalAppt
ProCalc
Talking Clock
They are also *supposed* to have on them Atari Works, System
Audio Manager, Audio Fun Machine, and FalconD2D. A small number
of machines got out the door without these programs installed on
the drives. We will be shipping a mail-in card to the dealers
that got these machines a card for their customers to mail into
Atari so you will receive these products via mail. We apologize
for the mistake.
We are now in anticipation of another shipment of Falcons in about
two weeks. Included in this shipment is going to be a number of
units that will not have hard drives built in, specifically the
Falcon030 with one meg of RAM and no hard disk, and with four megs
of RAM and no hard disk. These units WILL NOT come with
SpeedoGDOS, Atari Works, or FalconD2D. They will have everything
else, including the hard disk utilities in case you have your own
SCSI hard disk. We will be selling at a later date a hard drive
upgrade kit, which will ship with Atari Works, SpeedoGDOS,
FalconD2D, MultiTOS, etc. on the hard drive.
Regarding applications for the Atari Falcon030, Bill Rehbock has
passed on to me some information concerning products and
availability. Please understand that I am not professing literacy
in all (or for that matter, any) of these products. I am simply
passing on some interesting information to our users. I hope that
this will prove encouraging, and help demonstrate that the
interest for Atari Computers is continuing to grow. In several
cases, these applications will not only run on the Falcon030, but
other Atari computers as well. Where I have commented about who
will be carrying the product in North America, this is based on
the best information I have at this time, and is subject to
change.
Notator Logic, a music applications, by E-Magic
Cubase Audio, a music application, by Steinberg
Inshape, a rendering application by Roald Christesen, carried by
Oregon Research
TruePicture, a retouching application, by HiSoft, carried by
Oregon Research
Harlekin3, a utility, by HiSoft, carried by Oregon Research
OverGenlock, video software by Overscan, carried by COMPO
Screenblaster, graphic expansion by Overscan, carried by COMPO
Overlay, a video application by Overscan, carried by COMPO
DA's Vector, a graphics application by Digital Arts, carried by
Pacific Software
Convector 2, an auto vectorization application from SHIFT, carried
by Gribnif
Zoom, an icon editor from SHIFT, carried by Gribnif
MusiCOM, a music application from COMPO
MusiCOM 2, a music application from COMPO
Digitape, a music application from Trade iT, carried by Codehead
Falcon Speed, a PC board, from COMPO
TruePaint, a graphics application from HiSoft, carried by Oregon
Research
Pure C, a programming language from Pure GmbH, carried by Gribnif
Pure Pascal, a programming language from Pure GmbH, carried by
Gribnif
Studio Photo, a retouching application from Eurosoft, carried by
COMPO
Chagall, a graphics application from Trade iT, carried by Codehead
GT-Look II, scanner software, carried by Pacific Software
Interface, a programming tool, from SHIFT GmbH, carried by
Gribnif.
As you can see, there really is a lot going on!!!
In addition to all of that, we've been busy on the game side of
things as well! We're ready to release three more titles for the
Lynx: Gordo 106, Lemmings, and Jimmy Connors Tennis. I've seen
eproms of these titles, and expect to have news on production in
the near future.
Also on the game side of things, as CES is going on in Chicago
even as we speak, we've announced the Jaguar, our oft discussed
new game machine. For those of you who haven't had a chance to
hear about the Jaguar, here is our press release:
Atari Corp., the founder of the video game industry and the
creative force behind some of the world's best-known titles, has
announced the launch of a revolutionary new multi-media
entertainment system, the Atari Jaguar. The launch will be
supported by aggressive advertising, promotion and marketing
efforts to be centered in the New York market in the fall, with a
national roll-out of the product within one year.
The Atari Jaguar, housed in a futuristic casing, is an interactive
multi-media system based on an Atari-designed proprietary 64-bit
RISC processor. The 64-bit system is four times the technology
currently seen in the market today. The Atari Jaguar features over
16 million colors in 24-bit true-color graphics and produces
shaded 3-D polygons to be manipulated in a "real" world in real
time. The Atari Jaguar also has real-time texture mapping and
creates spectacular video effects.
The sound system is based on Atari's proprietary, high-speed,
Digital Signal Processor dedicated to audio. The audio is 16-bit
stereo CD quality and processes simultaneous sources of audio
data, allowing for very realistic sounds, as well as human voices,
which are essential for future multi-media applications.
The Atari Jaguar is truly expandable and will include a 32-bit
expansion port which allows for future connection into cable and
telephone networks, as well as a digital signal processing port
for modem use and connection to digital audio peripherals such as
DAT players.
The unit will also have a compact disc peripheral, which will be
double-speed and will play regular CD audio, CD + G (Karaoke) and
Kodak's new Photo-CD(R). Currently, there are multiple software
titles in development, which will be available on MegaCart(TM).
Atari, known for such groundbreaking 3-D titles as "Battlezone
2000(R)" and "Tempest 2000(R)," will issue spectacular new
versions for the Atari Jaguar. New 3-D game titles will include
"Cybermorph(R)," "Alien vs. Predator(R)," "Jaguar Formula One
Racing(TM)" and many more. Atari will license third-party
publishers to join the Jaguar family.
"The Atari Jaguar system will revolutionize the state of home
entertainment as we see it today," said Sam Tramiel, president of
Atari. "The idea of a 64-bit system is earth shattering and kids
and adults will be amazed at both the imagery and manipulative
capabilities. And we are proud that our entry into the multi-
media entertainment category will be fully made in America."
The Atari Jaguar will retail for approximately $200 and will be
available nationwide next year. The Atari Jaguar packaged unit
will include one software experience and a Power Pad(R) Controller
with a ten-key pad and other special features.
We did not show the Jaguar on the floor of CES. We have a
videotape demonstrating the units capabilities that we are showing
to developers and key retailers. We have been shipping Jaguar
developer units for awhile now, and are very excited at the
reception of our new unit.
Rather than invest in an incredibly expensive rollout at CES,
we've opted for a "special event" kind of rollout. We will
conduct our event at a date to be announced in the fall.
We are extremely excited about this project!!!! It has been much
awaited by all of us in Sunnyvale, and we forsee it as a product
that will recapture the attention of consumers throughout the
world!! I've been pleased that already, in less than 24 hours
after the press release has hit, a number of publications (even
the foreign ones!) are calling in, and looking for as much
information as possible. For the most part, we're sticking with
the press release at this time. We will release specification
sheets at a later time.
One thing that I know the Tramiels are particulary excited about
with this product, is that it will be an American prodcut,
manufactured in America! I hope that all of you share our
enthusiasm for that!!!
With that, I'm ready to filed any questions that our members might
have tonight, Lou. Let's talk Atari!!!
<[Lou] ST.LOU> Thanks Bob. It does sound like more good news! Here
come the hands.......:-) Our first guest in Charlie Townsley.
<[Sexy] ARCHIVIST> Hi again Bob, thanks for being here. A little
question about the pricing of the new programs from Atari: You
quoted Atari Works as having a price of $118.95, does this include
SpeedoGDOS as was suggested earlier? Or is Speedo extra at at the
price of $64.95?
<BOB-BRODIE> Speedo is included with Works for the users that
purchase it...as a separate product, Charlie. They will also
get the fonts.
<[Just Folks] ARCHIVIST> Ah, OK I just wondered at the price jump.
that's all.
<BOB-BRODIE> I think it's actually lower, Charlie. We were going
to charge for Works $129
<[Lou] ST.LOU> Thanks Charlie. Next is Bruce Welsch of the KC
Fest.
<[Bruce] B.WELSCH> Hi Bob, Great news about the Falcon. Will the
manuals ship with the computers? And can we get a copy of the
Jaguar Video to show at the show? And where can we get the Kodak
CD drivers?
<BOB-BRODIE> Bruce, as I indicated in my opening remarks, there
were a few units that went out the door without the products,
and the manual. The manuals for System Audio Manager, Works, Audio
Fun Machine, FalconD2D are coming. We will be providing those
via mail for the customers that already have them. Re the video,
no...I'm sorry. That is not available at this time. Re the Kodak
Photo CD stuff, please send email to B.REHBOCK, he will be happy
to fill you in on the drivers.
<Y.SIU> What will be the RRP for the Jaguar? And what price should
the games be retailing at for the Jaguar?
<BOB-BRODIE> RRP, you mean MSRP??
<Y.SIU> Sorry....Retail Price I meant.....:-)
<BOB-BRODIE> Under $200. And no pricing on the games at this point
in time.
<Y.SIU> And more importantly, Atari appears to have lost many of
its professional base in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. What
will Atari do to regain those losses?
<BOB-BRODIE> Yat, the professional users that you are referring to
are by and large DTP people. We expect to be able to reclaim those
people as more of the apps start to take advantage of the things
in the Falcon030 like the DSP chip. On the other hand, your
question seems to imply that we have lost ALL of the
professionals, which is simply not true. We are GROWING a new,
higher level, professional audio/sound/ music class of users that
recognize the Falcon030 as a world class sound system!!! These
users will continue to give credibility to the Atari line of
computers.
<[Brad] B.SUSLOVIC> Bob, just wanted to say that I had no idea of
the broad nature of the Jaguar. WOW. How does one develop software
for the Jaguar? What immense potential!!! go team
<BOB-BRODIE> Brad, our developer support group here in Sunnyvale
for the Jaguar is headed up by John Skrutch. Please feel free to
write him, or contact him via Bill Rehbock here on GEnie and tell
them that you are interested in becoming a registered developer
for the Jaguar, and we'll be happy to pass along the necessary
info to you. We appreciate your interest in developing for the
Jaguar.
<[Dave Munsie] D.MUNSIE> Thank you! Good Evening Mr. Brodie..I
have two questions... First..Does Atari plan on having any
regional reps to handle dealer sales regarding the Falcon?
<BOB-BRODIE> Yes, Dave, we have a team of over 16 regional reps in
place now.
<[Dave Munsie] D.MUNSIE> OK, there are two two dealers in the
Dallas/FT worth area....with over 2000 users in this area we are
waiting for the Falcon to show up...any word on Megabyte and
Computer Discoveries? thanks..
<BOB-BRODIE> David, I really don't care to discuss each dealer's
status in public, as I think that it is unprofessional as a
rule...but I will in this case say that we just got the app from
Megabytes a couple of days ago, and we're still waiting for the
rest of the package to come back from Computer Discoveries. So,
with that in mind, I'd also like to point out there are two
dealers already selling the Falcon in the Dallas Metroplex area,
they are both Guitar Center locations. One is in Arlington, and
one is in Dallas proper. Would you like the address and phone
numbers so you can contact them to purchase one?
<[Dave Munsie] D.MUNSIE> Maybe you could post it so I can pass it
on to the others here? Thanks.
<BOB-BRODIE> Send email, Dave.
<[James] J.FRENCH2> Is the Falcon a transitional machine?? Jaguar
seems to have more advanced technology thaty would fit nicely in a
full blown computer.
<BOB-BRODIE> No, the Falcon is not a transitional machine. They
are 100% different animals. The Jaguar doesn't have many of the
Falcon hardware "computer things", like SCSI, floppies, a monitor
port, etc. The Jaguar will have many other features that are more
focused toward entertainment and multimedia. But the Falcon is a
versatile computer.
<[James] J.FRENCH2> Can you tell us about the video hardware by
Compo?
<BOB-BRODIE> The hardware is really by Overscan, not Compo. Compo
is going to be carrying it here in the US for Overscan. It will
allow greater screen rez, like 800x600x256. It's shipping now in
Germany to good reviews. I don't have pricing at this time, and
suggest that you email COMPO, or bring it up in one of their
topics here in the ST RT.
<[Jeff] J.WHITE99> Naturally, most of my questions center on
availability. Will the forthcoming shipment of F030s be of a size
similar to the last? When is peak production anticipated? Did you
mention D2D Systems in your application-compatible list?
It is naturally reassuring that there is going to be some sort of
effort by corporate to promote some of their products. Seeing that
the Jaguar is only a consumer product and the Falcon really has a
lot of direction to that market as well, what's the possibility of
directing some of those efforts towards the birds as well as the
cats.
<BOB-BRODIE> Jeff, we never comment publically on the size of the
shipments. If you look at the marketplace as a whole right now,
(computer hardware that is) there are a number of well known
manufacturers that are being very cautious about their productions
capacities. Certainly, that is in repsonse to the still poor
economy, where growth in the retail end is still quite small
overall. We have seen at Atari, a number of our "traditional"
marketing partners disappear over the last few years, like the
Highland Stores in the midwest, which were once gigantic, and are
now closed. So we will earmark production as the economy continues
to slowly rebound.
Re the sharing of the technology... I think that there is no
question that there are things that can be used in future products
(note the DSP stuff in the Jag) and we will apply those across all
of our products. But the Falcon is a much different product than
the Jaguar, make no mistake about it. I hope I answered all of
your question, Jeff. All the /sends coming in made it pretty hard
to read. Give me a call next week...we'll talk.
<E.NIKOLAISE2> Bob I was just wondering if you have contacted
Sculptured Software about becoming a Jaguar Developer. Also, can
you tell us what video output the Jag. will have? SVHS
<BOB-BRODIE> Erik, we'll release the spec sheet at a later time,
not tonight. And I'm not at liberty to say who are developers for
the Jaguar are at this point in time, sorry.
<[ken] K.BURKENHEIM> I have one of the new Falcons with the 80
meg hd. I also am waiting for the software. I LOVE the machine and
am typing to you on it in High REz and In color.
<BOB-BRODIE> Ken, that's great to hear, I'm glad you're so pleased
with your Atari Falcon030!!! We will do our best to get you the
software as quickly as we possibly can. We got another rev of SAM
today and I'm told that it is solid, as well as D2D. So, it should
be working on the F030! Just a question of getting the manuals
done now that the software is *FINALLY* solid.
<[Brian G.] B.GOCKLEY> Hi Bob, Two Questions: Glad to hear you're
on schedule with Falcon shipments. Will there be any for sale at
the CT show next week? We have three dealers attending who have
signed their ADAs, but don't _yet_ have any product to sell. We're
looking forward to our best show ever, June 12-13 in Hartford,
sorry you can't join us this year.
<BOB-BRODIE> Yes, the dealers that we have authorized to sell
Falcons at the CT Atarifest are The Computer Zone of North
Attleboro, Mass and East Hartford Computer Repair. Both of them
should have Falcons at the show.
<[Brian G.] B.GOCKLEY> Thanks, Re: the Jaguar, what about a bundle
of some old favorites like Asteroids, Space Invaders, Frogger for
those users who cut their teeth on Ataris. (That's from Angela!)
<BOB-BRODIE> Brian, those are great ideas.
<[/sen 16] C.CASSADAY> Bob, how does one go about getting apps
like Talking Clock, ProCalc, CalAppt, Landmine, and Breakout? I'm
not going to purchase a Falcon030, but I will purchase MTOS as
soon as it becomes available. Are some of these programs included
with MTOS?
<BOB-BRODIE> Chris, no those programs are not included with
MultiTOS. MultiTOS and SpeedoGDOS both come with a text file
telling every user how to sign up for GEnie, that I personally
wrote! :) Re the other programs, I don't know what to tell you
right now. CalAppt is a comprehensive program, and requires (at
least I required) a manual in order to use it. The games....I
don't know what to tell you yet about that. I'll see what can be
done. They are written to take express advantage of the Falcon,
but will work on other machines as well. My wife is cutting into
my computer time at home on the TT so she can play Breakout. :)
<[Stevan] B.STEVAN> Bob, From a dealers perspective will we get
some sort of an upgrade from the 65MB HD to the 80MB as well as
the other programs that were not shipped with the dealers units?
Also with regard to service parts we have been unable to get just
about anything since Atari Canada closed up...what is the
situation with that. Also is Canada going to be getting any of
those reps you were mentioning?
<BOB-BRODIE> Stevan, No...there will be no upgrade from the 65 meg
units. It was intended to be an incremental upgrade. Frankly, we
were very surprised that it happened this fast. We thought that it
would be longer before we got the newer drives. Sorry. Re the
programs, I indicated in my opening remarks that there were a
limited number of machines that went out the door without the
programs that were supposed to be installed on them, and we
apologize for the mistake. We will be sending the affected
dealer(s) post cards for them to provide to their customers so
that the can get the programs mailed to them once the manuals are
ready. Re the Canadians, we have signed on a rep for the music
side, and I'm attempting to bring on one for the Computer side as
well. We'll see how it goes. I know that parts are a problem right
now and we're trying to correct it. Right now, fax Shirley Taylor
with your orders at 408-745-2088 and she will do the best that she
can to help you with your parts needs. Also, don't forget that
there are other suppliers than Atari, like BEST Electronics in San
Jose, that stock just about anything and everything for Atari
products.
<[Yat] Y.SIU> Concerning the Central European market...there was
much criticism about the fact that thre was no Falcon coming in a
TT-like design, with a VME bus and/or '040? How are the plans for
such a future computer...and if not an 040...what about the
16Mhz....MTOS is still too slow in my opinion to run on a
Falcon030....
<BOB-BRODIE> Yat, I remind you of what I told you last month. I do
not work for Atari Corporate, or the Europeans. I work for Atari
US which also has Canadian responsibilities. Not Europe. I really
am not in a position to comment on what the plans are for
specifically for our European markets. I suggest that you take
those issues up with Bob Gleadow, the GM of Atari UK. I will be
happy...IN EMAIL, to provide you his contact info.
<[Yat] Y.SIU> Sorry...my question was not meant to focus on
Europe, but on the future of maybe some probable Falcons..i.e.
Atari Products... Thanks for your answer....
<[pat] P.FORISTER> Bob, when using a Falcon030 without MTOS loaded
will I still get the 3D gadgets?
<BOB-BRODIE> No, Pat. The 3D gadgets are a result of loading a
new version of the AES specifically designed for MultiTOS.
<[Rob] R.ANISKO> Bob, - are there any plans to release any special
filesystems for MultiTOS in the near future? I've heard good
things about the Minix filesystem, for instance (in terms of
speed, and breaking the 8.3 filename limit), and would be
interested in seeing MultiTOS take advantage of such things. It
would be nice to simply add a filesystem, and then pop in *any*
disk format (like an Am*ga or M*cintosh formatted disk) and go
from there.
<BOB-BRODIE> Yes, Rob...I have spoken with Eric Smith, and there
is some new things in the works for the file system, espcecially
the extensions to the MINT file system.
<[Rob] R.ANISKO> One other question - what would be your thoughts
on maybe bundling some shareware titles on the Falcon's harddisk
(like Gemview, ConNect, etc) that should already be suited to take
advantage of the Falcon's capabilities?
I'm not sure of the legal stuff, but it would be nice for those
folks without modems to get a look at some of these programs
(actually, bundling a modem wouldn't be a bad idea either |-)
<BOB-BRODIE> I doubt if we'll bundle modems, Rob....not until we
have our own DSP modem available. Most of the time, I think
including shareware diskettes are a good tool for a dealer to use
to make the customer feel that he is getting a enhanced value for
his purchase. I got a ton of free software back when I bought my
original 1040, and really felt good about my purchase.
<SAM-RAPP> Hey Bob! What were the factors that lead to the
decision to market the Jaguar in the New York Area as opposed to a
nationwide roll out? Also, please elaborate on the Lynx situation.
What happened to the new games? (2 a month!) What about the RPG's
in specific? I can buy ST stuff easier than Lynx around here!
<BOB-BRODIE> One of the major factors in the roll out in NY is
that it is a densely populated area, with terrific media exposure
that makes it easy to both sell and promote a product greatly,
rather than doing a big rollout all over the US. Re the two games
a month, right now it's been more like two games a quarter. I
suspect that part of the reason for that is the emphasis has been
to get the Jaguar ready, and we've made some sacrifices in order
to ensure that that happened.
<SAM-RAPP> One more question... any pricing/availability on the
16(14) meg boards for Falcon? GA. (and thanks!)
<BOB-BRODIE> I should know that, but I don't. I know that we have
a limited amount of them in stock right now, but I'm also told
that Zubair is producing a 14 meg board, too. So you might want to
check with them, and see what they're doing.
<[Connor] CAN-ASST> Hi Bob! Part of one of my questions was
already answered, but I called Atari a week or so ago to find out
about Canadian dealers for pricing info and was told that there
were only 2 authorized Falcon dealers in Canada...
<BOB-BRODIE> Whoever told you that was mistaken.
<[Connor] CAN-ASST> I called the one in Toronto and they weren't
sure of the pricing.
<BOB-BRODIE> The pricing is posted in the BB here in the ST RT.
<[Connor] CAN-ASST> Thanks, Bob.
<[Lou] ST.LOU> Connor, I believe Bob is saying that only US
pricing is posted because of the fluctuating exchange rate. :-)
<BOB-BRODIE> Actually, I can post it again right now if you would
like.
<[Connor] CAN-ASST> Ok, that would be great Bob. Thanks.
<BOB-BRODIE> OK, Connor. The prices for the Atari Falcon030
follow. These are in US dollars, due to the fluctuations in the
exchange rate that are presently happening. All prices are MSRP,
GST and Duty are additional:
Falcon030 1/0 814.98
Falcon030 4/0 1018.98
Falcon030/4/65 1324.98
Falcon030/14/80 1936.98
The price on the 4/65 is really for a 4/80, sorry. Old habits. :)
<[Jeff] J.WHITE99> Trying not to incur wrath and still be pointed
is difficult. Marketing... Any retailer of any product will tell
you it is easier for them to support a product people are asking
for. Why not advertise F030s as aggressively as Jaguars? ;-) You
had mentioned the 'futuristic' aggressive advertising for the
Jaguar.
<BOB-BRODIE> Tell me about the Jaguar commercials you've seen,
Jeff? :) It's like this...we recognize that we need to do more
things to market the product. The problem is to do it a cost
effective way that is going to make sense, and not burn up
hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process. In looking at the
most recent issue of Computer Reseller News, I see that for the
top ten computer mfgs of desktop computer systems last year, there
are only TWO that I recognize as doing any TV advertising for at
all. In fact, a couple of them are people that I don't remember
ever seeing any advertisement for at all, anywhere!!! So, on the
one hand, building a demand for the product is a big item, but
clearly, there are a number of different ways to go about it.
Dealers always want to see you spending big, so they don't have to
spend. On the other hand, being from the Bay Area, you've seen how
effective a good partner in promotion can be used like Fry's
Electronics. Virtually NO TV, but major print and radio ads. And
their stores are full...I know, I shop there, too. So, we'll be
looking for the Falcon at doing some cost effective things in
conjuction with quality partners, both retail and developers. We
want to resume doing things like the campaign we did with FOSTEX,
Dr. T's, Steinberg, and C-Lab once before where we shared the cost
of the promotion between all of us. It was great! And we also need
other things, too, like POP materials. They will come, Jeff.
Promise. <whew>
<[Lou] ST.LOU> I want to thank Bob for bringing so much
information to us tonight in the longest Dateline Atari! session
so far. Given the numbers who attended, I am sure you realize how
important these sessions are to Atari users. Thanks. I would like
to thank all of you for attending tonight. It was great for me to
see so many new and old names! Any closing comments, Bob?
<BOB-BRODIE> Thanks, Lou. Another great job tonight in moderating
such an excitable group. Well done, and thanks to all for
attending.
