Phases of a consumer product, incl. Amiga and other retro stuff

[Ferry]

Not sure if this is the correct place, but here it goes:

Consumer products, which is what our computers, old and new, were and are, go through several phases:

1. Novelty: you pay a premium if you want to be one of the first.

2. Established product: the price goes down a bit, they sell like hot cakes.

3. Very established product: starts to lag behind, new things come out, but it is still usable. Price goes down a bit more.

4. Outdated product: time has not been good for it, technology is advancing and there are more and more novelties and they do more and more things, people don't even want it at a knock-down price. If those novelties are in the "established product" phase, they have a reasonable price, so maybe a change......

5. Product in the process of replacement: I already have the new gadget, but I'm not getting rid of the old one, I'm fond of it, both coexist for a while.

6. Product in storage: I don't use it anymore, I need the space it takes up on the table, so I keep it in the cupboard/garage/storage room.

7. Electronic junk: I've had kids and the baby pram takes up a lot of space, so I clean out the junk. The old computer gave me a great time when I was young, but now I have responsibilities.

At this point, a LOT, but a LOT, of junk has ended up straight in the TRASH, in the bin, at the recycling point, so although a lot of it has been manufactured, there is relatively little available.

Also at this point, the die hard, those who maintain the hobby at all costs, take the opportunity to buy bargains, deals, sales, gifts.

8. Reborn product: your children are older, they are doing their own life or even have already left, and you miss the times when you didn't have responsibilities or pushchairs, and you remember how much fun you had with your old computer, the one that made you discover computers/video games ("the old ones were much better without so much 3D or so many special effects, there is no comparison..."), so you buy one from the flea market, from a second-hand shop/page, when buying second-hand was for poor people. You still get it at a good price, maybe not as junk, but at a more-than-reasonable price, or yes, as junk, because a neighbour has just realised that it's taking up space in his storage room and it's next to the bin.

9. Retro product: many have thought like you, and there is a growing demand for that computer from your youth, and sellers are no fools: "It's the market, mate". Now they are no longer bargains or more-than-reasonable prices, but the prices are at least "achievable", within an "acceptable" range.

10. Collector's product: you are no longer only interested in the computer you used, you are interested in all the computers of that time, because they marked a milestone, it is the whole that gives meaning to what you lived, so you want not only yours, you also want to have the MSK, the CTC, the Smectrun and the Tragon30, or all those of the same family, close or distant, of yours: the 64KB, the 128KB, the one with floppy disk drive, the one without...

11. Speculator's retro/collector product [in Spanish slang, the speculator who sells at excessively high prices would be a "jollero", pronounced 'hoiero']: the demand is high and the available units are scarce, so a lot of "clever" people think that people are idiots and are willing to pay really high prices for those computers more than 30 years old, of which there are few [Author's note: I have to find a job in one of those recycling points], and the funny thing is that THEY ARE RIGHT: there are people willing to pay really high prices for old computers that were junkyard meat, which keeps the prices high.

C'est la vie...


Saluditos,


Ferrán.