GEnie/Z*NET NEWS REPORT
GEnie/Z*NET NEWS REPORT
Copyright 1992 by GEnie, ST RoundTables, and Z*Net News Service
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8/21/92
FIRST REPORT FROM DUSSELDORF
Nathan Potechin of DMC Publishing, Inc., filed this first report of the huge Atari show in Germany. The information came via telephone from the floor of the Atari Messe ("Fair") in Dusseldorf, Germany, and was transcribed by John Nagy of the Z*Net News Service at Nathan's request, and has been uploaded by Z*Net to GEnie. This news release may be reprinted, excerpted, or re-posted on any other telecommunication service ONLY with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation.
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ATARI AT ATARI MESSE - THE NEW WAVE BEGINS
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Every year, Atari holds a huge trade show in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Spanning roughly four football fields of floor space, the show this year is similar in size and attendance to last year's event.
The announcement of the Falcon 030 to the largest Atari show in the world was the first order of business. According to Nathan Potechin, "there are Falcons all over the floor of the show, in almost every booth." Clearly, the nearly-accurate profile of the coming machine offered by most of the Atari media across the last months was not missed by the showgoing Atari Messe audience, and the excitement in the crowd was high as they saw it firsthand.
Many vendors had new applications that expose the power and features that are new on the Falcon 030. DMC Publishing (Calamus) again had the largest booth on the floor, spanning 4,000 square feet with about 40 people working in it alone. Other large booths included TMS, Matrix, 3k, and Maxxon. Many new products were shown, and we will report on them in detail in a later release.
MARKETING PLANS, PRICE FOR FALCON IN USA
The hottest news at 5:00 PM Friday evening in Germany after the close of the first day of Atari Messe was the unveiling not only of the Falcon, but of the plans that Atari has to market the new machine in the USA.
The "base" Falcon 030 will retail for $799 in the USA in a one- megabyte configuration. The next option up the scale will be a four- megabyte RAM with 65 megabyte hard drive Falcon at $1,399.
Sam Tramiel told dealers and developers at an afternoon meeting that the US launch will begin immediately with regional marketing build- ups. Individual regions of the USA will be targeted, one at a time, with major "dog and pony shows" to both woo and educate computer dealers. "Serious" co-op advertising money will be offered to dealers who join in the roll-out. Once enough regions are served by an operating dealer network, Atari will launch a national advertising campaign.
Industry observers suggest that this plan will make the most of Atari's cash and production resources. By serving a small but growing dealer network with product, on-board Falcon dealers can be more assured of delivery of product during the build-out stages of the plan. Dealers will help and be helped in promotional costs, enabling Atari to make a bigger splash in smaller ponds with less of their own money, and allowing Atari's resources to go towards increasing production of Falcon computers. As production and sales increase, so will revenues with which to attack new regions. Meanwhile, Falcon specific software will mature and present a solid base for the later national marketing efforts.
More details from Germany will be coming later in the weekend. Look for more special reports on GEnie, a service of GEnie and the Z*Net News Service.
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