I think it ultimately came down to this.....Sorry if there are historical innacuracies, but feel free to correct me nicely.
AmigaInc(or an earlier incarnation) well after the fall of Commodore and all the changes of ownership, wanted to produce a new OS, ultimately based around an AmigaDE hardware agnostic system. Amigans went ballistic and understandably believed an Amiga to be about hardware, and the original OS, not some new fangled software. So AmigaInc reluctantly agreed, but due to the animosity of Amigans to the x86 platform, probably because of years of platform warfare, they couldn't take the x86 route. AmigaInc were berated when even the dev platforms for AmigaDE came out on x86. So AmigaInc went PPC and contracted Hyperion to produce a PPC AmigaOS. Of course they then made claims that it would be done very quickly....but I digress.
Also, with users crying out for speed increases on classic hardware, various companies created speed-up boards based on the PPC chip, because in those days they seemed like the natural progression to the Motorola 68k line. Also the whole simplicity of RISC computing seemed in line with the architectual proficiency of the AmigaOS. The x86 hardware, considered CISC(Although its apparently more RISC these days) was/is considered complicated bloat. So it made sense from a lot of people's view to go PPC and AmigaInc went so far as to support the Amiga community that had purchased these PPC boards as well, as OS4 will do.
Add to this what was going on in the tech industry at the time the decision was made. The IBM/Motorola/Apple alliance were going to create a common platform to rival the Intel platform, but later had a falling out as they couldn't agree on a common platform, which could have been leveraged by a new Amiga. It probably couldn't be forseen that Apple's stake in the PPC meant they get all the newest chips first, and due to the chip shortage would means a PPC Amiga would always be a generation behind Apple, and thus a generation behind x86 too.
The problem, as I see it, is not a matter of cost perse as the big box Amigas were always fairly expensive, but rather one of not being able to keep up with x86 hardware advancement, especially in the games advancement. Games sold the Amiga. Amigans wanted kick-ass hardware to run games and we simply haven't got it. AmigaOS is fine, and the hardware is fast enough to run it nicely, and we'll have a great user experience. But I believe the true essense of the Amiga was its advanced hardware, as it was designed as an advanced games console, that could be used as a computer.
The problem with the current line, like the A1s is that it is much like a PC, even coming in mobo form, and underpowered at that. Unfortunately it takes vast amounts of R&D to produce a kick-ass games console, that would be an Amiga computer. I think that is what we've all signed up for, with the PPC direction, but we never got the kick-ass hardware. With kick-ass games playing hardware you could justify the price.
The only way we can get there is if KMOS licenses a console manufacturer's hardware and ports AOS to it, rebranding it as an Amiga. Failing that, they could make a deal with a 3d card manufacturer to produce that killer integrated 3d games playing Amiga system. I know a lot of people don't care much for 3d, but that is what is the most impressive thing at the moment, and the only real way to Amiga's rebirth. Hardware standardisation was the Amiga's strength and creating an Amiga without custom chips just seems wrong, even if we don't hit the hardware any more.
Ok. Scampering back to my happy place now.
