Psy wrote:
It seems a common story for people in North America the Amiga was not carried in large retail chains when they (or their parents) were looking for their first PC.
To put this in comparison the Sega Master System (and its games) was more widely carried in retail chains then the Amiga (and its software) in North America.
I read this A history of the Amiga, part 5: postlaunch blues and was shocked with this bit:
"The Commodore 64 had been sold at big retail chains like Sears and K-Mart, but marketing executives felt that the Amiga was better positioned as a serious business computer. Astoundingly, Commodore actually turned down Sears' offer to sell Amigas".
That seems just retarded.
Yes, I do believe that Irving Gould was retarded from all the alcohol, jet-setting and who knows what else. What else could explain hiring a consultant to not only analyze your company but then later run it. Now that's retarded.
The other thing Commodore did under Jack Tramiel was to allienate large computer resellers by selling their products for less in retail chains. It's fine to sell in KMart and Sears but when you do - you better offer the big computer retailers some form of rebate or something to make it fair.
From what they say in the book, The Edge, That is not how Jack thought. He had no concept of long term relationships. Just what have you done for me lately. Which isn't only evident in Commodore's early dealing with other companies but with how many Excellent Employees, left to work elsewhere.
Can you imagine if Commodore had simply left open it's development facilities, retained all of it's best Engineers and fostered good relationships with dealers and retailers? I can't because it would be a completely different world.
