Letting the World Know
November 19, 2002 - With the AmigaOne now shipping and AmigaOS4.0 in
its final stages of development and testing, the time has come to begin
letting the rest of the world know the good news, that the Amiga is alive,
well and ready to let the World have fun with computing again.
We all know that the current hard core of Amiga users is not enough to
build a sustainable and thriving community. We have to appeal to those
who, for whatever reason left the Amiga months and years ago but who still
retain a fondness for their old platform. Whether disillusioned with their
existing offering, looking for a new way or simply wanting to return, the
marketing for the reborn Amiga must concentrate itself on these people,
the five million or so who once owned an Amiga and who could do so once
more.
The last six months has seen us experimenting with presence at various
multi-format shows and nurturing relationships with TV, web and paper
publications in order to test the waters and to set out our stall for the
big push forwards. Even in this informal process, the response has been
fantastic, whether in the US, the UK, Europe or Australia. People remember
the Amiga and want it back.
We have taken all this research and, in conjunction with Amiga
developers, retailers, user groups, publications, Amiga Inc, Eyetech and
Hyperion have decided that we will concentrate on four official large
scale multi-format shows around the globe, in order to maximize our
presence, message and exposure. This will compromise a show roughly every
quarter, one for Europe, one for the US and Canada, one for the UK and one
for the Antipodes (Australia, New Zealand and Asia).
The first of these shows will be the official launch of the AmigaOne
and AmigaOS4.0, to occur at the CeBit show in Germany in March (and before
anyone asks, this does not mean this is the release date for AmigaOS4.0,
it means that CeBit will be the public launch of it). With the huge
exposure and attendance that CeBit brings in, and being in Germany, one of
the spiritual homes of the Amiga, we think this an appropriate and
exciting venue.
In addition we will support several other important national shows on a
cooperative basis with the dealers, user groups and organizations in those
countries. Commitments have already been given to attend the SINTEP show
in Toulouse, France in April 2003, and at least one of the Micromart shows
in Birmingham, UK.
We will also support local dealers and organizers of the main Amiga
user group shows worldwide (subject to fitting in with the schedule of the
larger shows above) such as the Alt-WoA and WoA-SE shows in the UK, as
well as the main shows in France, Germany, the USA and Canada. If you
currently - or would like to - organize such a show during 2003 and would
like Amiga Inc, and/or Hyperion and/or Eyetech to attend please contact us
as soon as early as possible during the planning stage. Given the limited
resources we all have, and the cost and complexity of planning for the
quarterly shows, we cannot guarantee attendance but we will do our best to
support the community wherever it gets together to enjoy the Amiga
platform.
So much for 2003 - what about the remainder of 2002, and in particular
the Aachen show? We have all, both as individual companies and together,
thought long and hard about this show. It has been decided that the timing
could not be worse from our respective points of view.
Eyetech is committed to delivering the Earlybird systems for Christmas
that week and Amiga Inc is fully occupied fulfilling an AmigaAnywhere
contract, and product launch. Whilst visiting with all of you is
important, we believe that it is more important to ship products right
now, and we simply can not work the show into our schedules.
We
wanted to share this with you because many in the community have asked the
same questions that we have asked ourselves. How will the community grow
and thrive? It can only do so through increased sales, and that means
increased awareness. As we move from survival mode to growth mode, the
small, local shows, however much fun cannot provide this level of exposure
and awareness. By marching proudly and strongly into the mainstream shows,
and taking the community with us, we are announcing that we are back, once
and for all.
Have no doubt that after 8 years of darkness, 2003 will be the year
that the Amiga once again makes the World remember that there is a better
way.
Thank you, as ever, for your continued support and commitment.
Bill McEwen and the team at Amiga
Ben Hermans, Hyperion
Alan
Redhouse, Eyetech
