CommodoreUSA CEO Interview Answers

[vox]

Unlikely, as an investor should perform due diligence.

If an advertisment produced by CUSA for a product made misleading claims then you could have a point. However even showing the wrong factory in an advert would not be illegal, because it has no impact on the functionalilty of the product.
 
I don't know if I believe that it was the marketing companies fault, but it's definately possible. Bill Hicks had his own opinions on marketing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo

This is not current product but kind of "company history" missleading.
Nothing illegal, but kind of immoral.
http://www.commodoreusa.net/CUSA_ClassicModels.aspx

[motrucker]

Personally I don't see the Amiga Mini selling well. Why you ask?


1. No way to run AmigaOS or classic software included.

2. Looks nothing like any Amiga new or old, nostalgia factor lost.

3. Might have power supply issues.

4. GPU is too slow.

5. No value add, everything included is off the shelf parts and a free Linux OS.

6. Very high price.

7. Lack of community interest.

Going to try and have a long talk with Transition this weekend on why CommodoreUSA gets so much coverage here. Personally I think OS4, MorphOS, X1000 & AROS should be covered more. Leave Amiga Mini for Amigans.net.

Excellent idea! It would be great to Amiga.org turn back into a serious Amiga forum (although I do hope people do NOT loose their sense of humor). It's a shame this site has lost it's credibility to such an extent.

[Darrin]

Unlikely, as an investor should perform due diligence.
 
Even if dammy was directly employed by CUSA he never claimed to represent it.
 
Marketing material is almost always faked (although they like to call it artistic impression) but it's not generally illegal.
 
If an advertisment produced by CUSA for a product made misleading claims then you could have a point. However even showing the wrong factory in an advert would not be illegal, because it has no impact on the functionalilty of the product.
 
I don't know if I believe that it was the marketing companies fault, but it's definately possible. Bill Hicks had his own opinions on marketing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo

True, real investors should, but C-USA has already shown via their website that they intend to target "enthusiastic armatures".  While I suspect that their (his?) original plan might have been to target a smaller number of high-rollers (which would explain the Disney marketing, lies about the "factory" and "high-street orders", etc which have failed, the new target is the little guy looking to be his own boss with $10k-20k to "invest".  Convince 1000 people to "invest" $10,000 and you can walk away with a cool $10,000,000, divert the funds into shell companies, file bankruptcy and start all over again as Sinclair-USA.  Websites like this that keep pointing out the BS and which are easily found with a Google search must be a real pain in the backside for them.  Ironically, the more they try to shut the critics up, the more “hits” they make for people to discover the truth.

Remember, C-USA knew how many C64x machines they had ordered so when Dammy posted that picture of tens-of-thousands of motherboards on pallets (I did a quick calculation based on that picture and IIRC there was around 60,000 motherboards visible) he KNEW that they were not the real thing.  Even if we give him the benefit of the doubt and accept that he was sent the picture by Barry in good faith then Barry must have known they were not his motherboards unless you are willing to believe that the CEO of a computer company last no idea what his motherboards of his one and only product looks like or know how many he ordered.  Once we accept that Barry must have been lying, we also know that his story about his “China Agent” sending him the pics was also a load of dingo’s kidneys.  ?  Leo as CTO also must have known that the pictures were false, unless a CTO has no involvement in product development.

In short, we can’t trust a word these guys say and the big question is, why are they lying?  Are they doing it to look stupid or are they doing it for potential financial gain?

[koaftder]

The mobos were off the shelf stuff sold to other companies as well. It wouldn't be surprising at all to see a gigantic pile of them in an warehouse somewhere. Of course finding out that the picture you received from your supplier, and then used to brag with, was swiped from a website and then getting ripped on in the press for it is embarrassing.

It is interesting to see how much flack CUSA gets, when they've put their money where their mouths are, designed, produced and have for sale real products, and all done within reasonable time frames.

I think the root of the problem a lot of people have comes down to the fact that CUSA actually achieves its goals unlike most everything else in Amiga land which is mostly absurd hype that never materializes and what does is usually broken and will be fixed "any day now".

[Darrin]

The mobos were off the shelf stuff sold to other companies as well. It wouldn't be surprising at all to see a gigantic pile of them in an warehouse somewhere. Of course finding out that the picture you received from your supplier, and then used to brag with, was swiped from a website and then getting ripped on in the press for it is embarrassing.

It is interesting to see how much flack CUSA gets, when they've put their money where their mouths are, designed, produced and have for sale real products, and all done within reasonable time frames.

I think the root of the problem a lot of people have comes down to the fact that CUSA actually achieves its goals unlike most everything else in Amiga land which is mostly absurd hype that never materializes and what does is usually broken and will be fixed "any day now".

The fact they produced a C64x doesn't excuse the rest of their behavior.  It is as simple as that, especially when their attitude obviously hasn't changed.

Many people (aCube, Indivision, E3B, etc) have produced products (more than one!) and they don't act the way C-USA acts.

You'll need to explain how C-USA has achieved its goals too.  Where is the $30m advertising?  Where is the high-street retailer?  Where are the 100,000 orders?  Where are the (prinched of the internet) designs for those wonderful cases they showed on their website?

Rather than achieve their goals, I'd say that they have failed repeatedly.

How difficult is it to buy one of these:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2311915&CatId=4149
Install a graphics card and Linux
Put a C= sticker on it.
Multiply the price 3 or 4 times and then sell it (actually, the selling is the hard part as they're finding out).

And that price was retail!  Source the parts from China in bulk and you should get it down to a third or a quarter of that.

[persia]

@koaftder

C=USA's goals are low enough that they can make them, at least for now.  But they don't do anything that a typical mom and pop computer store does, assemble off the shelf hardware.  I've done it, a lot of people have done it.  But what that means is that they essentially made the goals of producing an Amiga by abandoning everything it means to be an Amiga.  

While most of us realise it is impossible to pick up where Commodore left off, there should be something unique about Amiga, some reason other than the name to be loyal to.

[haywirepc]

I think most of their problem is their attitudes and all the lying. If they had said very little and produced what they produced without all the hype, getting caught stealing text from apples website... Getting caught lying about a 30 million dollar advertising budget. Getting caught lying about pictures with 60,000 motherboards they owned or were made for them, getting caught with fake pictures of their factory, getting caught slapping a commodore sticker on a cybernet zpc, and so on...

Maybe people would have a better attitude towards them. I mean think about it if you catch someone you know in your personal life boldly lying to your face 6 or 7 times, and you catch them doing so, you never trust anything they say ever again. (and you shouldn't) You simply regard them as full of ****, which is what everyone with a brain has done to CUSA by now.

Add one more lie to the long list too...
Another problem they have is they think people are too stupid to check on anything they say. When they announced their 30 million dollar advertising budget, they also announced their NYC advertising company. I happen to be in NYC every other week or so. I stopped by there (The actual ad agency) This was when they were promising TV ads by December. It was October at that time when I visited their ad company. They hadn't even begun filming anything and the advertising guy he mentioned was surprised to hear about tv commercials by December. Why? No one there knew anything about a 30 million dollar budget. No one there knew anything about ads by December. (They actually laughed when I told them this) Now Barry blames them for the 30 million dollar lie? There you go, caught in another bold faced lie.

Think about commodore gaming. No one came on here trashing them, but then they didn't go around lying all the time or claiming to be the second coming, being abusive towards anyone with questions and lying to everyone, they just made product, and people (even people here) bought their cases and products, even if they were just bog standard pc's and pc cases.

[tone007]

@koaftder

C=USA's goals are low enough that they can make them

YES.

I took a dump today, love and praise me!

[Pyromania]

Linky

http://m.prnewswire.com/news-releases/commodore-usa-appoints-korey-kay-102977849.html

It's still on the CommodoreUSA press release site too. Bet they will be zapping that one.

[Pyromania]

Don't forget Dammy's phone call with Barry about $20,000+ Amiga's.

http://www.commodore-amiga.org/en/forum/27-commodore-usa/8551-phone-call-with-barry

Don't forget to add $10 to that since you have to buy Amiga Forever yourself.

[Digiman]

It's not a scam, it's a way of ending the discussion.
 
If I had people constantly asking me to make something that I didn't think I was going to make money at then I'd ask them to put their money where their mouth was.
The money was basically a pre-order, if CUSA failed to ship the product then I'd expect the money to be refunded. Of course you should make sure the contract was drawn up correctly to avoid any future disappointment
 
There is nothing to stop anyone from producing a PPC motherboard that fits one of CUSA's cases. An overpriced motherboard in an overpriced case is a perfect match.

It was a shil. Like I said they needed to tell us what they can achieve in detail.

Legally possible to pursue Amithlon?
AROS improvements donated by programmers/bounties they finance?
Technical skill to develop G5 based motherboard from scratch?
How much profit/mark up would they sacrifice on cost price of replica A1200 keyboard and case.

REAL businesses also would give all this information and produce a working prototype before asking for a small 20% deposit not 100%.

[Digiman]

Then why isn't it being done by yourselves?

1. Because NOBODY, especially C=USA, has asked after doing all the required background investigation required to convince people to part with their money.

2. Most businesses are not stupid enough to require the customers to design a worthwhile product to sell because they are clueless.

[Digiman]

Didn't answer me, Dammy.  How's that C-USA machine of yours treating you?  A guy that fervently supports a company like you do, you know, you not being an employee or anything of the sort, surely bought one and can offer a glowing review of it?  I'm honestly curious how you are enjoying your purchase, Dammy - please share.

They didn't send a review machine to a certain huge retro website either.

[Pyromania]

Special CommodoreUSA Amazing Magic

[Digiman]

@koaftder

C=USA's goals are low enough that they can make them, at least for now.  But they don't do anything that a typical mom and pop computer store does, assemble off the shelf hardware.  I've done it, a lot of people have done it.  But what that means is that they essentially made the goals of producing an Amiga by abandoning everything it means to be an Amiga.  

While most of us realise it is impossible to pick up where Commodore left off, there should be something unique about Amiga, some reason other than the name to be loyal to.

Exactly, if it has to be an x86 WINTEL motherboard it must be 100% AROS compatible and come in a replica Amiga 500/600/1000/1200/1500/2000/3000/4000 case AND with an identical keyboard layout at the very least.

[Darrin]

Linky

http://m.prnewswire.com/news-releases/commodore-usa-appoints-korey-kay-102977849.html

It's still on the CommodoreUSA press release site too. Bet they will be zapping that one.

LOL.  So they admit it was a lie (and it wasn't their idea, oh no!) and yet we have it in black and white that they set it up right from the start.  Brilliant.  

I like this line:

Commodore USA, LLC designs, produces and markets a series of all-in-one Commodore and Amiga branded keyboard computers, and other unique form factor computers and consumer electronics.

So back in September C-USA was claiming it produced and marketed a series of Amiga branded computers and yet here we are in April and they're showing us demo models of someone else's case.  Does... not... compute...