We could all talk for ages on this topic.
Just a couple of observations. I tend to agree with the theory that Commodore learned a bad lesson from the C64, in that you can continue to sell old tech for a long time. That worked when your product had killed off all competition and was king.
Having said that, part of the appeal of Commodore machines is that you knew you could buy it and use it for years with new software still coming. So selling old tech, while we criticise it, was actually integral to the Amiga's success in markets like Europe.
Their difficulties came about when the PC and clones came along with their, backward compatibility forever mantra. People were then a little less bothered about buying newer, faster hardware more often, because they knew their software could be taken with them.
Of course we all know that Amiga software was generally backwards compatible and could be made to work with certain tips and tricks, but never the less the PC and clone mantra was strong, and if Commodore DID launch a totally new architecture (like C64 to Amiga) then your software was stuffed.
I also like the theory that Commodore UK would have done a better job. In general I regard UK companies as backward and non-committal R&D wise, and notorious for listening to the bean-counters. We're also notorious for ruining a perfectly good product just to safe a few pennies in production. That is why generally UK products are ****, and our manufacturing has died a death. However, one thing Commodore UK knew how to do was market and sell the Amiga. The batman pack was a master stroke, and fended off the dominance of SNES and Megadrive for at least 2 years in my book.
As to where Amiga could have been nowadays. It's already been said. The best we could hope for is a market the size of apple's.
