Tales from CES--Don Thomas (Jan.22,1994)
From: Atari SIG (xx004@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 02/20/94-12:52:06 PM Z
From: xx004@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Atari SIG)
Subject: Tales from CES--Don Thomas (Jan.22,1994)
Date: Sun Feb 20 12:52:06 1994
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:: Volume 3 - Issue 1 ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE 22 January 1994 ::
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Don also shares "Tales from CES":
This is NOT an official release; personal commentary only.
I know people are going to ask me what I have heard now that
everyone is back in the office from CES this past week in Las
Vegas. Several people have forwarded independent CES commentaries
and rumors to me in E-Mail for comment which I couldn't respond to
very well. Although I've attended Comdex and CES and many other
shows in my career, I did not attend this one. My eyes and ears
have been seeing and hearing the same as anyone else who couldn't
go this time around.
Quite frankly, the excited people who bounced into the office this
morning were not the same people I expected to see. According to
some reviews I had seen passed around on the on-line services I
thought I would see defeated troops running in with their tails
between their legs. On the contrary, everyone was racing around,
talking up storms and doing a lot of smiling. Amidst it all, I was
able to squeeze brief conversations in with Bill Rehbock (Developer
Relations Hot Shot) and Garry Tramiel (Retailer Sales Chief of
Staff). I showed them both the descriptions of the Atari booth
offered by some people online who attended the show. Their versions
were much more positive and very different than the versions
described in the couple of articles I showed them.
I think I should give a quick overview of what CES is all about.
The Consumer Electronics Show is NOT intended to be a forum where
manufacturers launch new products for the public to see although
many companies are aware of the intense press there and use it for
that anyway. CES is a show where manufacturers romance potential
retailers. It's the once or twice a year opportunity for hundreds
of retail buyers and hundreds of manufacturing firms to connect
with each other within just a few days. It's not like an Auto Show
at McCormick Place in Chicago where the public is invited and all
the displays are designed to sell the consumer. It's an opportunity
for manufacturers to show off security minded displays, talk about
new advertising Co-Op programs, discuss new bulk purchase
discounts, network new developer alliances, prove the products they
promised were available, share marketing success stories, reveal
new advertising strategies and a variety of other marketing goals
that would simply bore the typical consumer to no end.
I saw one report that complained that all the Jaguars were in
plastic cabinets and the units were a little hard to hear as crowds
of people huddled around. Well of course you did, you yo-yo. Atari
is not after a crowd of kids trying out new high scores at CES,
they're interested to show retailers what the new upright in-store
display stands look like. Most meaningful retail buyers aren't
interested in level 5 of Club Drive, they want to see what you got
for them for in-store P.O.P. displays (Point Of Purchase
Displays). The sound may very well have been turned down so people
could hear salespeople talk... my experience at those shows is that
they are too loud to hear anything anyway.
I think it was the same report that claimed that all the systems
had bare electronic boards for carts. First of all this is a stupid
complaint of a show that is known for sporting new technologies in
development. Again, this is not intended to be an end-user show.
Secondly, I had numerous people insist that that is simply not a
true statement anyway. Our released carts were in cart form. The
ones in development were on bare boards to symbolize the reality
that they were unfinished. In cart form, people expect everything
is done and want to know why some specific aspect seems incomplete
when it physically looks like a finished product.
This report indicated other criticisms of specific games that came
across as unfairly biased. For instance, he (she?) indicated that
Tempest 2000 is a dumb game to bring into the 90's. I thought so
too at first since I was never a big fan of the original Tempest. A
lot of people were fans back then though and Mr. Skrutch provided
me some previews of Tempest 2000 that I believe will change the way
I look at it forever (for the better).
Garry Tramiel stated that this was the "most exciting show" he had
been to in support of Atari products for a very long time. Bill
Rehbock said something similar in a separate conversation. Garry
justified his statement by saying that only 2 of his appointments
didn't show on time and most came early with anxious questions like
"how soon?", "how much?" and "how 'bout sooner?". Garry said he had
top CEOs of retail chains waiting outside his door to meet him that
wouldn't have done so in the past for anything. Because these
meetings involve confidential agreements, I cannot discuss Garry's
itinerary in detail, but he said everything was upbeat and positive
with very few exceptions. He said only one retailer met her
appointment with Garry with a negative comment. She said, "nothing
here impresses me, I thought you should know." Then she proceeded
to negotiate with Garry on terms he could not negotiate on (in
fairness to other retailers). She left in a huff only to return
later with her company President who insisted on opening
discussions again. I know I'm hearing Garry's side of the story,
but even with some stretch of the imagination I don't know why they
fought so hard to buy something that "didn't impress her."
Bill gave me some astronomical number of developers who indicated
they want to discuss more on development using the Jaguar as their
platform. Keep in mind that development projects for people can
easily involve a wide variety of things and many may have nothing
to do with consumer goods. Therefore, all these people may not have
end user goodies to discuss. I asked Bill if these are just people
who dropped their card in the fish bowl and he said "Oh, if I count
those then there's several hundred!"
Various Jaguar related products won several innovation awards at
the show. I could not recall what specific ones they were, but I am
sure announcements are forthcoming.
The differences in what I heard from people in the office from
what I read in some of the "editorials" online reminded me of how I
love In-N-Out Burgers (a VERY popular chain of fast food burger
joints in California) and how my wife hates them. The restaurant
does not change between the time I place the order and the time my
wife does. She'll simply tell you that the burgers are "sloppy and
greasy". My description is that they're "juicy and piled high".
Same burgers, same restaurant, same time of day; different agendas,
different tastes and different points of view.
Public Relation firms get a lot of money to generate official press
releases, so this is not intended to be more than a personal
commentary.
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