The lost 20,000 Amiga 500 special edition packs...

Paul_s · 26 February 2009, 22:14

According to RetroGamer this month C= made a booby with one of their special edition A500 packs...

Which one I hear you cry? Why, the useless Airmiles pack... anyone remember that?

So, where are the other 20,000 of them?! Did they get shoved into different boxes or are they stashed away somewhere in the UK

To make the 25,000 packs cost C= £120k apparently... oops

alexh · 26 February 2009, 22:40

If you remember the packs were standard A500 boxes with a special cardboard sleeve which went around them. (perhaps not all of them but from Batman Pack on for sure!)

The Airmiles pack was the very FIRST A500 pack. I am betting they just threw away the cardboard sleeve and made a new pack. The sleeves were just recycled or went to landfill.

Even so writing off 25k cardboard sleeves would not have cost £120k... perhaps in lost revenue during the time it took them to create a new pack?? Or perhaps there was a boo-boo with Airmiles and they figured only so many would claim and everyone did... a bit like the Hoover "Tickets to New York" fiasco.

I would take everything in RetroGamer with a pinch of salt.

paranoid · 27 February 2009, 19:57

This might be a derail of sorts, but about C= (UK I assume) losing money.. Wasn't it the only arm of Commodore that was making money, and decently at that? I thought there was even talk of Commodore UK buying the rights when the mothership went under (or at least, here in the US, that was a major hope).

alexh · 27 February 2009, 20:20

You're not wrong. Commodore UK was still solvent when it all went bang.

ImmortalA1000 · 02 March 2009, 12:16

That's because in the UK we had taste and kept an open mind about buying machines that didn't run the office suites from work

paranoid · 02 March 2009, 20:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by ImmortalA1000

That's because in the UK we had taste and kept an open mind about buying machines that didn't run the office suites from work

Not to derail this or get into an argument or something, but a bigger problem was Commodore themselves. There was also the Bridgeboard, for those that bothered to look.

Madcrow · 03 March 2009, 14:46

I always wondered why Commodore UK and Commdore Europe, both of which were actually well-run and profitable, unlike the the poorly-run, money-losing American parent company didn't just buy out the Commodore name and Amiga technology and keep going. Were the debts they would have had to assume as part of the package just too big or something?

lucadip · 04 March 2009, 09:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Madcrow

I always wondered why Commodore UK and Commdore Europe, both of which were actually well-run and profitable, unlike the the poorly-run, money-losing American parent company didn't just buy out the Commodore name and Amiga technology and keep going. Were the debts they would have had to assume as part of the package just too big or something?

Basically, yes. This is what I learnt reading articles and books about commodore.
Another reason is that, because of bad management, the amiga (at least the hardware) did not evolve much and they had fallen way behind the competition.

PWLM · 04 March 2009, 13:43

I read something about the 680x0 series and when Intel held back development of a certain chip in the mid 90s, C= stopped developing their new chip and never caught up again. Would like someone to expand on that if anyone knows more?

paranoid · 04 March 2009, 20:07

When Commodore Inc. went under, in order to pay their debts, all assets were auctioned off. It would have made a lot of sense for Commodore UK to buy those assets (such as the patents, rights etc) since they already had the offices, employees, inventory etc etc that were essentially Commodore in that part of the world. But, survival of the Amiga wasn't a priority, but paying off the bankruptcy was and Escom just had more money.

This is also what had Amiga users in the US so pissed off. From reading from the people working there on Usenet, it was clear that the majority owners (I think there were two or three that had the controlling stock) were just waiting for it to die and write it all off their taxes. There was no marketing, nothing. As an example -- we didn't have games bundled with the Amiga, we had Amiga Vision bundled. (At least when I bought my 500.)

And as an example of the owners actually going out of their way to kill Commodore -- when there was a stock meeting, and some enthusiasts did own voting stock, they were held in the Bahamas or something -- as a vacation for them, and also to dissuade people with voting stock because it would be a lot more expensive than, say, a trip to Pennsylvania (where the headquarters were, and a logical choice if they had any intention of Commodore surviving).

26 February 2009, 22:14	#1
Paul_s Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Amigaville Age: 46 Posts: 3,336	The lost 20,000 Amiga 500 special edition packs... According to RetroGamer this month C= made a booby with one of their special edition A500 packs... Which one I hear you cry? Why, the useless Airmiles pack... anyone remember that? So, where are the other 20,000 of them?! Did they get shoved into different boxes or are they stashed away somewhere in the UK To make the 25,000 packs cost C= £120k apparently... oops

26 February 2009, 22:40	#2
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,369	If you remember the packs were standard A500 boxes with a special cardboard sleeve which went around them. (perhaps not all of them but from Batman Pack on for sure!) The Airmiles pack was the very FIRST A500 pack. I am betting they just threw away the cardboard sleeve and made a new pack. The sleeves were just recycled or went to landfill. Even so writing off 25k cardboard sleeves would not have cost £120k... perhaps in lost revenue during the time it took them to create a new pack?? Or perhaps there was a boo-boo with Airmiles and they figured only so many would claim and everyone did... a bit like the Hoover "Tickets to New York" fiasco. I would take everything in RetroGamer with a pinch of salt. Last edited by alexh; 26 February 2009 at 23:12.

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27 February 2009, 19:57	#3
paranoid Phone Zen Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Banned Age: 52 Posts: 234	This might be a derail of sorts, but about C= (UK I assume) losing money.. Wasn't it the only arm of Commodore that was making money, and decently at that? I thought there was even talk of Commodore UK buying the rights when the mothership went under (or at least, here in the US, that was a major hope).

27 February 2009, 20:20	#4
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,369	You're not wrong. Commodore UK was still solvent when it all went bang.

02 March 2009, 12:16	#5
ImmortalA1000 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: london/england Posts: 1,347	That's because in the UK we had taste and kept an open mind about buying machines that didn't run the office suites from work

03 March 2009, 14:46	#7
Madcrow Registered User Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 228	I always wondered why Commodore UK and Commdore Europe, both of which were actually well-run and profitable, unlike the the poorly-run, money-losing American parent company didn't just buy out the Commodore name and Amiga technology and keep going. Were the debts they would have had to assume as part of the package just too big or something?

04 March 2009, 13:43	#9
PWLM He found it at the zoo.. Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Townsville / Australia Posts: 151	I read something about the 680x0 series and when Intel held back development of a certain chip in the mid 90s, C= stopped developing their new chip and never caught up again. Would like someone to expand on that if anyone knows more?

04 March 2009, 20:07	#10
paranoid Phone Zen Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Banned Age: 52 Posts: 234	When Commodore Inc. went under, in order to pay their debts, all assets were auctioned off. It would have made a lot of sense for Commodore UK to buy those assets (such as the patents, rights etc) since they already had the offices, employees, inventory etc etc that were essentially Commodore in that part of the world. But, survival of the Amiga wasn't a priority, but paying off the bankruptcy was and Escom just had more money. This is also what had Amiga users in the US so pissed off. From reading from the people working there on Usenet, it was clear that the majority owners (I think there were two or three that had the controlling stock) were just waiting for it to die and write it all off their taxes. There was no marketing, nothing. As an example -- we didn't have games bundled with the Amiga, we had Amiga Vision bundled. (At least when I bought my 500.) And as an example of the owners actually going out of their way to kill Commodore -- when there was a stock meeting, and some enthusiasts did own voting stock, they were held in the Bahamas or something -- as a vacation for them, and also to dissuade people with voting stock because it would be a lot more expensive than, say, a trip to Pennsylvania (where the headquarters were, and a logical choice if they had any intention of Commodore surviving).

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