THENDIC SMART-BOY

THENDIC Electronic Components GmbH are a German company that develop, manufacture, and supply Smart card and magnetic stripe Point of Service devices. Since their establishment in 1995 they have developed a range of amusingly-titled terminals, such as the 'CASHBOY' - a machine for processing card payments, and the  'MobiCASH' ( m-commerce GSM-terminal and two Chipcard-Readers). Both devices enable the customer to easily interact with other devices and electronic media.

In January 2001 the company indicated they would be developing an Amiga DE variant of their 'Smart-Boy' PDA device. This was the first real indication that the Amiga DE would be marketed towards the palmtop market. This intention was later expanded in a March 2001 press release, in which Thendic Germany indicated the device would initially be sold in a B2B (Business-2-Business) variant in March 2001, using Windows CE as the main operating system. Once Amiga Inc. had completed their work on the Amiga DE, a second consumer version would be launched. Over a year later, on 15th April 2002, a second statement appeared announcing its cancellation. The statement cited two reasons:

"In September of 2000, King Lee, a former VisCorp board member and the Chairman of Amiga Inc. at the time, ask us to talk to Bill and try to assist him. We did. We told him to go after the "classic" OS. We told him to finish the upgrade to the PPC. In the meanwhile, we licensed AmigaDE and we made the "SmartBoy." When the prototype was built, AmigaDE was not ready. Finally, we abandoned the effort because in a world with the likes of Compaq, etc., a Windows CE device running AmigaDE is a bit like pouring alot of water in a good glass of wine. It just did not make good business sense and we could not achieve competitive pricing (even for the embedded market)."

Thendic France press statement, 15th April 2002

For those who can't be bothered to read it. This statement emphasizes two reasons for the cancellation of the Smart-Boy:

1. AmigaDE was not ready when the prototype was complete
2. The company could not compete on a cost of acquisition/price to market basis for components with other ARM and CE dealers.

As a result of these factors, the Smart-Boy became the first AmigaDE project to be canceled, narrowly beating the Sharp Zaurus tie-in and Nokia's MediaTerminal. At the time of writing, Thendic are hoping to fill this market with a miniaturized version of the Pegasos.

Specifications

Read the Smart-Boy press release (March 2001)

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Last Update: 12/6/2002