Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!husc6!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!tektronix!tekig5!wayneck
From: wayneck@tekig5.TEK.COM (Wayne Knapp)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: "Units sold" numbers?
Keywords: Amiga sales, //GS sales
Message-ID: <2899@tekig5.TEK.COM>
Date: 21 Jun 88 19:14:31 GMT
References: <350@pedro.UUCP>
Organization: Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Or.
Lines: 66

In article <350@pedro.UUCP>, pete_ashdown@pedro.UUCP (Pete Ashdown) writes:
> 
> I have a couple of questions concerning "units sold" numbers. 
>   
> A. How many Amigas have been sold worldwide?  I need a hard factual number. 
> The only thing I have is "The Banditto" in "Roomers" stating something like 
> 500,000 have been sold to date.  This seems ridiculously low for the rate 
> that 500's have been selling at. 

From what I hear there are about 600,000 Amiga's worldwide with about a 50/50
split beteen Europe and the USA.  What rate have you heard 500's are selling
at.  I can't see how it could be more than about 25,000 a month.  My guess is
arount 15,000 a month.  Well the Atari ST was ahead at first it now 
looks like there are about the same number of Amiga's and Atari ST's out.  
Both machines are really popular in Europe.  The monochrome 520ST being the
cheapest 68000 system and the Amiga 500 seems to be doing a little better
than the color ST's.  Both markets are pretty small yet.  I don't have any
inside facts on the actual numbers, just what a lot of people think.  

>   
> B. How many Apple //GS's have been sold worldwide?  "A+" claims that 250,000 
> have been sold.  A couple of Apple owners are telling me that 2,000,000 have 
> been sold!  Both of these numbers seem ridiculously HIGH for a computer that 
> has roughly 100 commercial packages available for it, 18 months after it was 
> originally released.  Computer Shopper stated last fall that 10,000 //GS's 
> have been sold.  This seems more like it, but there is no way that my friends 
> using Apples will believe that. 
>   
  250,000 at 10,000 a month sounds right.  Remenber that the //GS can run Apple
// software.  That means 1000's of programs not just a 100 or so.  Also lots of
//x owners upgrade to the //GS.  The Apple // still seems alive and well.  I
think that there about 2,000,000 Apple //'s out there.  Most are not //GS.  I
think the //GS will continue to do well as looks of // owners will upgrade to
a //GS instead of an Amiga or Atari since they can keep thier old software.


Now what I what to know is how many PC's out there with EGA or better graphics,
and what is the grouth rate?  A wide guess is 3,000,000 at 50,000 a month.
Including clones.

Also how about the Mac II? 

My hunch is that the current Amiga's and Atari's will never catch up to the
PC and Mac market.  Maybe some new machines might, but right now the PC market
seem to be doing great, and the Mac has very, very strong WORLD WIDE interest!
My wife is Japanese, and even though I have an Amiga 1000 and Atari ST she 
still wants a Mac.  In fact before coming over here the Mac was the only 
computer she knew that she liked, and from last count there were maybe 6
Amiga's in Japan all own by gaigin's.   My wife say's that IBM, Apple and
even Atari are well know in Japan, but Amiga is completly unknow.  She 
was teaching English and said even the Junior high kids talk about Apple.  
She never heard of Amiga though until I showed her mine.  See the problem?

If the Amiga is going to survive my bet is that it will be Amiga 2000 and 
better machines.  The Amiga 500 and Atari ST both have the same problem of
being not quite enough and a little hard to expend. (Hard means $$$)  And
neither company has Apple's marketing.  Everyone has heard of Apple and
IBM, can't say that for anyone else.  

Just maybe there is hope for the Amiga 500 though.  What is you could get
every C64 owner to upgrade or even 1/5 of them.  That would really push up
sells of the 500.  If there were 2,000,000 plus 500's out there the Amiga
market would really start to fly.  It might even be able to beat the Mac
market.  
 
                                      Wayne Knapp