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> Referring to the $100 rebate that had helped make the T.I. home computer popular, Mr. Cosby joked about how easy it was to get people to buy computers if you
by shubhamjain 8y ago
> Referring to the $100 rebate that had helped make the T.I. home computer popular, Mr. Cosby joked about how easy it was to get people to buy computers if you paid them $100 to do it.
It makes sense for Sony, Nintendo, and Amazon to sell their devices at a loss, making up for it later in selling digital games and books. The loss is an acceptable cost for a bigger distribution platform. But what reasons T.I. had to pursue the strategy without having any footprint in software? Can anyone help me understand this?
- 83457 8y agoMay not have been that was the strategy they wanted to take initially but they were undercut severely on price my commodore's vic-20 and may have been seen as the only option.
- russfink 8y agoI had a Timex Sinclair 1000, and then bought a Commodore 64. I used a vic-20, and for the life of me, I cannot see how a vic-20 compares to a Texas Instruments 99 / 4A. I honestly would have preferred my Timex over a vic-20 just because the 20 character screen with was super annoying. How did you live with it?
- reaperducer 8y agoI used to feel the same way. But it’s importamt to remember that the VIC 20 wasn’t so much a contemporary of the 99/4A as it was its predecessor. The VIC was somewhat out of phase with the rest of the computer industry at the time. It was more akin to being a step between CP/M machines and the full-on 1980’s home computer scene. Amazingly, people are still producing new VIC 20 carts today. And the quality of the games is quite impressive.
- pmorici 8y agoThe article implies they were doing it to clear out over stock not as part of some plan to dominate the market.
- VLM 8y agoClearing the channel of product 2.0 before flooding the channel with product 3.0 ? If the market is moving faster than you are, then prices of yesterdays technology can only drop over time so cannibalizing future sales at $200 discount by providing a $100 discount is a good idea. Your question is clear in an abstract sense but AFAIK Nintendo has never sold a console at a loss even on launch day and Amazon tablet product sell for more than the profitable price of imported semi-legit Chinese tablets. A kindle fire hd 10 (which I'm considering getting to use as a big screen kindle appliance) is well over $100 from amazon and a seemingly identical NeuTab is $70, so Amazon is likely making about $50 off each kindle. Sony does sell at a loss which makes them go insane over unlicensed homebrew software displacing their profitable software.
- v_lisivka 8y agoBy 10 computers for a school, collect $1000 in rebates.
- classichasclass 8y agoAt the time there were still a lot of people who wrote their own stuff because the majority of purchasers were still enthusiasts. I think TI failed to foresee that the market was changing to people who were primarily users than tinkerers, and ignored the need for a robust software library at their peril.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- rwallace 8y agoTI did have a footprint in software, which is how they hoped to survive the endgame selling computers at a loss. But that created a dilemma. If they went ahead with a Nintendo-style crushing of third-party software developers, the Vic-20 would have a much larger software catalog and be a better value proposition. If they went the Commodore route and welcomed third-party developers, little of the software revenue would go to TI. They wavered back-and-forth on this a couple of times but never found an answer that worked for them.