Yokemate of Keyboards
Posts: 2720 from 2003/2/24
@ micronuke
I think it has already been explained that Genesi now are collecting big orders from big companies, like Freescale. This is of strategic importance for the survival and future development of the Pegasos platform, but the problem is that these large companies are demanding 60-90 days in their terms of payments, and since the hardware components suppliers demands up-front payments for the components that the Pegsaos are built of, it adds additional financial preassure to Genesi.
From what I understand, the dealers in the Amiga market only pays half of the amount in advance, and this is probably not even enough for covering the production costs. So to be able to sell boards to Amiga dealers on those terms, part of the production has to be financed by Genesi, and this won't be possible now for a short, limited period of time, until the money from the bigger orders from the bigger customers starts to roll in. For a short period of time, the focus has to be elsewhere. And BTW, this is not news! It was carefully announced to the public (and the Amiga dealers) *well in advance*, that "after this production run [whenever it was (March, April?)], the following production runs will be dedicated to big customers only". So this should not have been a surprise to anyone really, and the smart dealers stacked up a pile in their warehouses. However, if some dealers would be prepared to pay *the whole amount* up well in advance, I would be surprised if they would have been denied any boards.
About the "Amiga market" (as an "output" market, where you make your living); it *IS* saturated; the Pegasos was not developed to sell in hundreds or a copule of thousands. This is far from enough for living from. But note that this does *not* mean that no Pegasos boards will be produced for the "Amiga market" anymore (like some people seems to think, despite that the opposite has been explained many times)! The reason to why Genesi has spent so much time and money through visiting/supporting Amiga shows in the past, communicating on Amiga web forums and handing out "Phree boards" to developers, etc, etc, etc, is that this market is of big importance as an "Input" market; a special kind of market that will provide content and other things for the platform that helps increasing the platforms value on the *Output market* (where the *real* money are made), and thus help move the platform forward. Perhaps the results of the phreeboard programmes and the Amiga market in general has been disappointing for Genesi up to now, perhaps they had hoped for more development efforts from developers, I don't know. But chanses are that more and more enthusiasts (old Amiga people and others) will come joining the platform once it starts to grow and make a footprint out in the real world. And wasn't there talks about another Phreeboard programme or such, for this comign fall or so?
I have a feeling that we will see many interesting developments on the Pegasos platform in a close future (like after the summer or so), when real money starts to flow in to Genesi. There will be new CPU cards, and there will be new machines for anyone interested in purchasing them, including the dealers in the Amiga market. But for the time beeing, for a short period of time, it seems like Genesi has to focus on other things.
MorphOS is Amiga
done right! 
MorphOS NG will be AROS
done right! 
