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From: doug@certes.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Commodore public relations
Message-ID: <8707110358.AA14196@unisoft.UNISOFT>
Date: Fri, 10-Jul-87 20:04:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: unisoft.8707110358.AA14196
Posted: Fri Jul 10 20:04:24 1987
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Summary: Commodore fan club?

I appreciate the interaction of Commodore folks on the net; they are very
helpful, and it makes comp.sys.amiga a great place to hang out.

Commodore's public relations policies in other areas however, sometimes seem
to be much less enlightened. My last posting pointed out that boondoggles
with products like LIVE, Sidecar, Transformer 1.2, Genlock, and U.S. sales
of the 500 and 2000 can be alienating. Certainly companies can have engineering
and other difficulties, but it's not smart to get a reputation for such.
And there are other issues as well...

Everyone who is an Amiga fan would love to be a Commodore fan, too, but
it is much more difficult. Commodore executives should be studying Apple
intently; why are there so many people who are such utter fanatics about
Apple as a company, in addition to loving their MacIntoshes?

Simple: Apple is always doing things that give their users a warm fuzzy
feeling. Certainly Apple has alienated people from time to time, but on
the whole their batting average is quite good.

Apple put a lot of effort into third party programs that resulted in
an abundance of hardware and software. You buy a MacIntosh, you *naturally*
get MacWrite and MacPaint. I bought an Amiga, and bought Deluxe Paint,
but where's the equivalent of MacWrite? I'm *still* looking for it! And
for a HAM mode paint program, for that matter.

There are lots of other examples of things that Apple has done that made
people feel like Apple was working *with* them, and that they could count
on Apple to come through with things.

Commodore has done a lot of good things, too, but somehow there seems to
be something missing. Perhaps it's because it's not just *what* you do,
but also *how* you do it.

(To be fair,  Commodore is already much friendlier in aspect than some
companies. I get the impression that Atari, for instance, is pretty good
at alienating their customers. Settling for a position midway between
Atari and Apple is probably not ideal, though.)

It would be hard for me to defend individual examples of Apple public
relations versus Commodore, but I think that it is undeniable that Apple
as a company is much, much more popular with their customers than Commodore
as a company is with theirs. Just based on that, I would hope that
Commodore would start emulating Apple in some respects. Or at least make
it a point to appear as friendly as possible. There are marketing consulting
companies that specialize in this kind of thing; when in doubt, go to
an expert.

Perhaps I am misperceiving things, and perhaps I'm the *only* one who
is. If so, feel free to flame me:
	Doug Merritt		ucbvax!unisoft!cer>
Diencod