· · OPEN LETTER TO THE
COMMUNITY
June 8, 1999
Dear Amigans,
Ted Waitt was recently interviewed by Guardian Online about
Gateway'splans in general. There was also a question specifically
about Gateway'splans for Amiga that Ted answered as follows: "we've
had a group of peopleworking on leveraging the Amiga assets into an
appliance strategy for us.How well that works out, I don't know: it
will be interesting to see. Thereare some great assets there. It's
definitely not a computer business.”This comment has
obviously spurred many responses from the Amiga community.I want to
assure people that this doesn't reflect a shift in our Amigaplans.
We have not changed our plans to release a next generation
Amigamultimedia computer. I have described the new multimedia
computer and howit integrates into a full "information appliance"
environment in my Mayletter to the community posted on our web
site. Please read the May letter,as it will help you understand
Amiga's product strategy.
Ted's comments refer to Gateway's product plans for using the
Amigatechnology. Gateway's main interest in the next generation
Amiga technologyis for the emerging information appliance market.
Gateway's focus on Internetconnected information appliances is
justifiable given the extremely highpotential of this market and
it's threat to the PC industry. ProminentIndustry analysts have
called information appliances "the next Internetwave” and
"one of the most exciting opportunities of the new
millennium.”By the year 2002, it is forecasted that
information appliance shipmentswill surpass PC shipments and there
will be more information appliancesconnected to the Internet than
PCs. If I were CEO of Gateway, this wouldalso be one of my primary
areas of focus. But I am not CEO of Gateway.I am CEO of Amiga and I
don't want to confuse Gateway's plans with Amiga's.There is a
significant overlap in our plans but there is a difference infocus.
I have been empowered by Ted to drive Amiga as an independent
companywith it's own strategy and plans. This will eliminate a
major challengethat has held Amiga back for many years. The
challenge of getting the properattention and priority from large
corporate parent companies which arefocusing on their core
business.
Regarding Amiga's strategy, I have mentioned many times that
Amiga willuse the immense emerging information appliance market to
build momentumfor our next generation architecture. This is why we
have come up withan architecture that integrates the power of
multimedia computing intoa full home computing environment that
includes information appliances.This is a revolutionary
architecture and computing environment for thefuture that combines
power and simplicity. It is a powerful plan that givesAmiga a great
chance of rising again as a significant force in the industry.On my
trip to Germany and the U.K. last month, I presented details of
thearchitecture and plans to a small group of prominent people in
the Amigacommunity. I did this confidentially to get some feedback
and validationon our plans. Once people understood exactly what we
were doing, the feedbackwas very positive and people were excited
about the revolutionary new architecture.Personally, I am extremely
excited about sharing details of the new Amigaarchitecture with the
community as a whole but we are still in a very sensitivestage
relative to competition and technology partners. I know this is
frustratingto the community since you have waited so long for a
next generation product.We will continue to share as much
information as possible when it is appropriate.
I hope this letter clarifies Ted's statements on Gateway's use
of Amigatechnology. I will continue communicating as much as
possible. You canexpect to see my June letter to the community in a
few weeks. I promiseyou that 1999 is going to be a great year for
Amiga and the Amiga community.Keep the momentum going as we come
back for the future.
Sincerely,
Jim Collas
President and CEO, Amiga
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