Yokemate of Keyboards
Posts: 2795 from 2006/3/21
From: Northern Calif...
@Andreas_Wolf,
I don't know if you are including A-Eon's development costs for the X1000, or X5000, when you say that you think that Trevor made a profit on selling X1000 systems, which allowed him to develop the X5000 and A1222 simultaneously, but Trevor himself has stated at least once that he did not come close to recouping the money spent to create the X1000, and unless he has sold many more X5000 systems than I think he has, I strongly doubt that he has made a profit on selling the X5000 yet. Since A-Eon is still selling X5000 systems, I guess they can eventually start making a profit above the design and manufacturing and distribution costs, but in such a small market, I believe that they may loss money on the X5000 and the A1222, unless they sell many more hundreds of systems over the next couple of years. I hope they do, as I am always wishing for Trevor's success, even when I don't agree with all of the decisions that A-Eon has made over the past several years. I know that his intentions are always to help grow the community, and any profits will surely be re-invested into other projects, which will also benefit the Amiga community.
So, no, I don't think that Trevor is doing any of this to make a personal profit, but he did state that the X5000 needed to be priced to make at least a small profit, in order for the company to continue, and to fund other projects in the future. It is unfortunate that some of the advice that Trevor has listened to and acted on, has not turned out very well, but I think everyone should give him a lot of credit for doing something, besides moaning an complaining on Amiga forum sites, and doing nothing. He has tried to do his best to make a difference, and help the community move forward, and he continues to do so, even after losing what appears to be hundreds of thousands of dollars in design decision mistakes.
Although Trevor did not mention a specific number, he has made multiple comments and expressions, during more than one AmiWest Show, which indicate that he has lost a large amount of money on the X1000, and spent a tremendous amount of money on the X5000 and A1222 designs. I just don't see how he can recoup anywhere close to that investment, with the small profit margin he will get from each X5000 and A1222 system, when the sales numbers are limited to a few hundred units. Maybe I'm wrong, and he will be able to sell almost all of the potential 1000 A1222 systems, when it is finally released in it's final "non-beta" state, and more X5000 systems will continue to sell in the future. I wish that would be true, but I remain very skeptical. Perhaps selling the Enhancer Packs will help keep A-Eon going, and the developer group that A-Eon supports will come up with more software that spurs more AmigaOS4 system sales?
MorphOS - The best Next Gen Amiga choice.