Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU Path: dartvax!mars.caps.maine.edu!noc.near.net!uunet!paladin.american.edu!auvm!UA1VM.BITNET!DMCGHEE1 Organization: Institute for Study of Wombats and Lemurs Message-ID: Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 08:43:00 CDT Sender: Info-Amiga List From: David Subject: Commodore's Reply Lines: 176 Sorry it took so long: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- TITLE: Commodore asks for help... Commodore is aware of the activity on computer networks in response to the "Amiga/Slow Death" article written by Mr. Phillip Robinson. Commodore wants to assure all you who are concerned that we are not taking this lightly, and would appreciate your help in responding to Mr. Robinson and to newspapers who have reprinted the article. Therefore, we are providing the information that follows. It is a version of a correspondence sent to dealers in market areas where the article has appeared. All of us at Commodore share your concern about this story. The Commodore marketing and communications staff agree that this story is one-sided, contains several inaccuracies, and does not communicate the current thrust of our emerging, dynamic and leading U.S. business presence in multimedia and related applications. Specific Actions And An Update We've had two conversations with Mr. Robinson since his article first appeared. We communicated to him all of the reasons why suggesting that "Amiga is dying a slow death" couldn't be further from the truth! We have one additional interview scheduled with Mr. Robinson next Wednesday (July 29th). He will be writing a follow-up article after the interview. The follow-up article will appear first in the San Jose Mercury News and then will be distributed through the Knight Ridder distribution channels to your local paper. That process usually takes up to two weeks. Mr. Robinson reports that the feedback he's currently receiving from the "Amiga/Slow Death" article is the heaviest he's experienced in the eight years of doing this column. He reports that some of the more virulent negative feedback has included threats of violence. We of course do not endorse violent feedback of any kind. But you can take constructive steps to channel your negative reaction to Mr. Robinson's article. You can help manage the negative public perception Mr. Robinson's article has created by taking action with your local broadcast and print media. Please consider doing the the following: 1) Write a letter to the editor of the newspaper that ran the Robinson article. Correct the record. Use some of the message points we've provided. Voice your strong objection to the one-sided and ridiculous suggestion that Amiga and Commodore have no future. 2) Send a copy of your letter to the editor directly to Phillip Robinson. His address is P.O. Box 1357, Sausolito, CA 94966 (as printed in the San Jose Mercury News). 3) If you wish, voice your opinion to Mr. Robinson by leaving a voice-mail message for him at (415) 289-9498. Do this in the next seven days so you have impact on his follow-up article. Here are the primary message points that Commodore hopes to get across to Mr. Robinson. Perhaps you can include some of them in your letters to the editor: * Commodore is a one billion dollar company. * There are more that three million Amigas installed worldwide. * Phillip Robinson's recent article, which talks about a "slow death" for the Amiga, was written with no input from Commodore. * Commodore is not "killing" the Amiga. In fact, the company, and its developer network, currently are working on several enhancements to the Amiga product line. Significant product announcements are planned this Fall at the World of Commodore show in Pasadena. * Approximately 1000 dealers distribute the Amiga in the United States. * Commodore recently signed a sole national distribution agreement with Merisel, Inc., the world's largest publicly held distributor of microcomputer hardware and software products. * Commodore recently signed a strategic product reseller agreement with Digital Equipment Corporation. * Commodore, its shareholders, its dealers, its developers, and its end-user base continue to have a long-term commitment to the Amiga and its future as a multimedia, business and consumer microcomputer. * Commodore (and the Amiga) is a pioneer in the emerging multimedia market. The company and its independant developers actually are helping define multimedia. Many companies say they are "in" multimedia without really knowing what that means. Commodore has a strong end-user base executing a wide variety of multimedia applications today. * Multimedia is not a single market or application. Multimedia is a method of designing and integrating computer technologies on a single platform that enables the end-user to input, create, manipulate, and output text, graphics, audio and video with a single user interface. * Commodore is focusing on four key business markets, for professional applications, in the United Sates: videography, professional training, kiosk information systems, and presentation systems. The company has significant market share in each of these business markets. * The company recently launched an aggressive marketing and advertising campaign to support and increase its leadership position in these four key business markets. In addition, Commodore is updating industry trade editors and reporters about the company's U.S. business strategy against these four key professional markets. * Commodore has added new senior management to the consumer side of the business. The company plans to extend current strengths of the Amiga into consumer channels with a variety of product announcements and new consumer applications during the next 12 months. * NewTek is a valued developer. The Video Toaster is a great Amiga peripheral. But the Amiga is much, much more than just a power supply for NewTek's Video Toaster. In fact, to say that the Amiga is "just a power supply for the toaster" is a totally wrong and misguided depiction of the Amiga. And, NewTek's Video Toaster is dependent on the Amiga's custom chip technology. * The Amiga offers the best "price/performance" for multimedia computing solutions available today. In addition, the Amiga provides "traditional" office computing applications and a wide variety of entertainment packages. The Amiga also provides options to read and write MS-DOS and MacIntosh files. * This is the most exciting time in the history of Commodore and Amiga computing. The company's visibility in the microcomputer industry should increase significantly during the next year as new programs, products, strategies and applications mature. Final Thoughts We are taking specific steps to not only regarding this incident but also to ensure that we regain more leverage and positive coverage in the general media and reporting environment going forward. To that end, we're planning some specific press events at both World of Commodore and Fall Comdex. We've also begun an intensive telephone contact campaign to strengthen our ongoing relationships with hundreds of editors, reporters, and freelancers who write about Commodore and the Amiga. We are committed to increasing the flow of accurate information to these important and influential media audiences. In the meantime, please help us with the impressions precipitated by the Robinson article; follow through on the recommendations we've made in this correspondence. Please consider faxing Mandi Griffies, in our corporate communications department, copies of any correspondence you generate on behalf of this effort and report subsequent media feedback and results directly to her. Her fax number is (215) 431-9465. Thank you for your concern and partnership. P.S. 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