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Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: pkivolowitz on March 17, 2010, 03:18:53 PM

Title: A Business Lesson I Learned From Commodore
Post by: pkivolowitz on March 17, 2010, 03:18:53 PM: I'll say at the outset that I do not recall if Jeff Porter told me this story or Gerard Bucas. And, I don't recall if they were telling it to me as first hand or as second hand. But the story is a good lesson for business people and an interesting anecdote of Amiga history.

Commodore was negotiating with Motorola for purchasing of massive quantities of 68K CPUs and they hit a wall on price they just couldn't get past. Finally, the Motorola rep said look: We can't sell you 8 MHz parts at that price - we have an agreement with somebody else that says they get the lowest price we offer. If we give you the price you want we will have to lower our price on 8MHz parts to them too.

Commodore replied - Ah, but we don't want 8 MHz parts. We want 7.xxxx MHz parts.

And that's how Commodore got the price they needed. It was the same part of course, just labeled differently.

Lesson: Listen deeply to the other side and think creatively. Insurmountable obstacles can often be overcome.

p
Title: Re: A Business Lesson I Learned From Commodore
Post by: ElPolloDiabl on March 17, 2010, 03:43:34 PM: So was it Apple or Atari who took the cheaper deal?
Title: Re: A Business Lesson I Learned From Commodore
Post by: bloodline on March 17, 2010, 03:48:26 PM: Sounds a little apocryphal, but a nice story none the less :)
Title: Re: A Business Lesson I Learned From Commodore
Post by: Matt_H on March 17, 2010, 05:30:10 PM: Commodore making a sneaky good business decision? Almost unfathomable! :)
Must have been in the pre-Mehdi Ali era.
Title: Re: A Business Lesson I Learned From Commodore
Post by: motrucker on March 17, 2010, 06:21:49 PM: Quote from: Matt_H;548051
Commodore making a sneaky good business decision? Almost unfathomable! :)
Must have been in the pre-Mehdi Ali era.

I think that's safe to say...
Title: Re: A Business Lesson I Learned From Commodore
Post by: sim085 on March 17, 2010, 06:41:05 PM: So does that mean that the 7Mhz processor can go up to 8Mhz? I am not planning to do it ... just out of curiosity.
Title: Re: A Business Lesson I Learned From Commodore
Post by: Nostalgiac on March 17, 2010, 07:34:01 PM: nice joke/story :D

Tom UK
Title: Re: A Business Lesson I Learned From Commodore
Post by: Amiga_Nut on May 08, 2010, 08:51:10 AM: lol so is the lettering in a different font? Because both are labelled 'P8' in all my machines.....
Title: Re: A Business Lesson I Learned From Commodore
Post by: mdv2000 on May 08, 2010, 01:39:21 PM: Quote from: bloodline;548032
Sounds a little apocryphal, but a nice story none the less :)

Okay, I had to look up apocryphal.... but this does sound like deals I've been in with software vendors so I am willing to believe its true.
Title: Re: A Business Lesson I Learned From Commodore
Post by: huronking on May 08, 2010, 03:12:25 PM: That is an interesting story, but everyone back then knew the economy of clocking hardware with off the shelf NTSC 3.579545MHz colorburst oscillators.
Title: Re: A Business Lesson I Learned From Commodore
Post by: adolescent on May 08, 2010, 04:37:07 PM: Huh? All of the 68000s in Amigas were 8MHz parts and were also are labeled as such.
Title: Re: A Business Lesson I Learned From Commodore
Post by: save2600 on May 08, 2010, 05:07:42 PM: That's what the designation P8 is for.
Title: Re: A Business Lesson I Learned From Commodore
Post by: Amiga_Nut on May 08, 2010, 09:06:55 PM: Quote from: save2600;557197
That's what the designation P8 is for.

Yep I should have been a bit clearer, both ST and Amiga 500/1000 chips are labelled 68000P8 which was what I was trying to say :)