★ PEOPLES ★ ATARI VERSUS AMSTRAD (POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY) ★ |
| Atari versus Amstrad (Popular Computing Weekly) |
John Lettice talks to Atari president Sam Tramiel about the newest Atari computers "The Atari ST will be available in a new housing, so you 'II either get it as a complete package or a la carte " If the recent PCW show proved anything it was that the micro market is diverging into two main strands. Amstrad launched its PC in the week of the show, and the machine, although an excellent implementation of the IBM standard, is in no means new. Like Amstrad's other micros it is essentially a well-executed package of tried and tested products, and technically breaks no new ground The other strand is currently represented by Atari, which although clearly out-ballyhooed by Amstrad at the show, was extolling the virtues of high tech and deploring the vices of packaging to everyone who'd listen. There's generally at least one Tramiel holding court to the press at each mBjor show, and this time, although Jack was absent, sons Sam and Leonard were filling the slot admirably. In the company's home US market Amstrad hasn't made an impact, and won't do until it launches its PC there next spring, so it's curious that Atari president Sam Tramiel already talks of the British company as a major competitor. The US is currently pretty well overrun with cheap PC clones, and although 68000-based machines like the ST, Macintosh and Amiga have managed to carve out a niche for themselves, they've in no sense achieved mass market status. Considering the conditions it would seem logical for companies like Atari to batten down the hatches and wait for the PC storm to blow over. Sam Tramiel. however, doesn't accept this, seeing the PC standard as something Atari should be in head-on competition with. Asked how he'll do this he waves his hand airily towards the corner of the room ''With that," he says. The that' in question was. at the time of the PCW show, a mock-up of a new PC-style package of system unit, detached keyboard and monitor based on the ST. According to Tramiel the machine is already in prototype form, and will be launched directly against Amstrad and the clones. "It'll mean the ST will be also available in a new housing, so you'll get it either as a complete package, or 3 la carte." The mock-up bore the legend "2080ST", but Atari isn't saying what it will eventually be called. Tramiel claimed to be unsure whether the base machine will have 2Mb or 4Mb of Ram as standard, but it seems likely that first models will be 68000-based. with 68020 versions to follow. Pressed on price, Tramiel first says it will be priced "competitively", then elaborates. "There's no reason for it to be priced under Amstrad, it will be either the same price or slightly over," the argument being that the ST is vastly superior to the PC technically, and can therefore sustain some price disadvantage. But if it's to compete with Amstrad on price Atari has a problem. Amstrad now has an entry level, single drive machine with bundled mono monitor for £459, and even if Atari were to produce a bundled version of the 520ST to compete here - which clearly wasn't what Tramiel was talking about - it would have to drop the machine s price by around £100, with similar implications for the rest of the range. Launch date is also equivocal, as Tramiel would clearly like to get the new version STs out this November, while general manager Max Bambridge guarantees "no more new machines before Hanover" (next year's Hanover Fair), then undercuts himself by saying that because the micro market changes so fast, that statement only holds good for two weeks. Bambridge also categorically denies that Atari will be launching a £459 Amstrad-basher, and changes the subject when it's suggested Atari might currently be split over whether to go for Amstrad or not. As far as Sam Tramiel is concerned, it's more a case of how' than 'whether' Clearly he wants the ST to supplant the PC as a world standard, and clearly he wants to begin to make this happen, but he's still looking at market conditions - British market conditions in particular. The question -which he's not too proud to ask people -is whether the ST can compete on a combination of power and price, or whether it can only face Amstrad by competing on price. If the answer is price, then the next question Atari must ask itself is whether it can afford it. If it decides it can we might just see some interesting new launches a lot earlier than Hanover. Popular Computing Weekly
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