IContain announces Amiga branded TVs, cell phones and computers

[commodorejohn]

IContain announces Amiga branded TVs, cell phones and computers
When a certain Todd Kleperis contacted the Aminet team two days ago to  "discuss your library of Amiga titles" and ask for "guidance as to how  to work with the existing fan base", the initial reaction over over at  Aminet was confusion.

So, this makes them +1 up on CUSA, now doesn't it?

That's the weird part. If it were just the Chinese rent-to-own company it'd be easy to call it unquestionably a scam, but if it's a scam why would they care about working with the community? I am confused.

[commodorejohn]

Its just dumb. A rent to own tv "protected by Amiga" that shuts off if you miss payments? I doubt we'll even see this technology in the US.

Reminds me of the DIVX "degradable DVD" format the movie industry wanted to push a while back. The only people stupid enough to go with rent-to-own schemes, particularily with something that depreciates as fast as consumer electronics, are the trailer-park monkeys that use rent-to-own as a "free stuff until it's repossessed, rinse, lather, repeat" service already. Just a shame this scam gets added to the list of things the "Amiga" label has been abused by...

[commodorejohn]

Like OnStar?  The technology is already here for autos: http://vehicle-tracking-gps.com/wordpress/2010/01/19/obdii-port-gps-tracker-for-buy-here-pay-here-auto-dealers/

The technology exists, yes, but OnStar uses it to serve the customer, not control them. There's a huge difference between buying something advertised as "our technology lets you disable your stuff if it's stolen!" and "our technology lets us disable your stuff if you don't pay up!", and good freaking luck trying to fool all but the densest of consumers into not seeing the difference.

[commodorejohn]

And who says it'll be an openly advertised "feature"?  The user fails to pay the bill and the product "mysteriously" stops working within a week.  Options = Pay the bill or send it back.

I suppose that's possible, but the way they're openly flaunting it at the moment seems to defeat any attempts at secrecy. o_O Anyway, how long would it take for word-of-mouth to spread even if they did manage to keep it a secret?

[commodorejohn]

So Barry Altman thinks that having the Amiga name associated with a RTO scam as well as a line of generic PCs will help matters? Yeah, sure, that won't cause confusion at all. Maybe other companies can get in on this brilliant new revolution in marketing! Just imagine: Chrysler bathrobes! Pfizer children's toys! Tampax candy cigarettes!

[commodorejohn]

The AIO looks nice, if only it weren't an Atom

The screen is off because the photographer didn't pay up ;P

[commodorejohn]

come on! An amiga branded phone and tv? They don´t realize that amiga really was no brand to the consumers. It was a machine. A machine that did all a pc did, but went beyond the narrow perspective of business and embraced a technology that was both efficient and effective. Not any machine with these traits, but a specific one.

+2^256

[commodorejohn]

I got one!  How about slapping a boing ball on a generic laptop Intel/Nvidia board?

No, no, no! You can't go inferring that they're going to use generic Intel hardware just because their existing products use generic Intel hardware and they've indicated that they're going to continue using generic Intel hardware for the near future! What, do you think you've got pattern recognition or something? You have to wait for the specs to be released!

[commodorejohn]

I really wish some incredibly wealthy troll would put it out there that he's very interested in purchasing and consolidating all of the Amiga IP in order to relaunch the brand.
The legal battle that would ensue as the various IP holders fight one another over ownership of this suddenly hot commodity would eventually ruin the all, and the Amiga name and IP could lapse into the public domain where it belongs.

This is my exact plan if I ever win the lottery. Well, that or just buy it outright and hold onto it so nobody can abuse it, then let it lapse into PD upon my death.

[commodorejohn]

EDIT: Can anything be done?  (I mean anything legal.)

I doubt it, apart from waiting for him to die or declare bankruptcy and snag the rights back.

[commodorejohn]

Buy it.

Shall we take a collection?

[commodorejohn]

But how about when the 1st person asks, "what am I going to get out of this" and you rapidly discover that each camp will now need its own bounty since no one can agree on even what to have for lunch.

True. Maybe we can collect donations in order to buy it and then make it public domain