My apologies if this has already been posted, but I came across this web site that had a bunch of Vic 20 commercials:
http://www.commodorebillboard.de/Main/Index2.htm
Pretty obvious the Vic 20 was targeted at Atari's market; I wonder if that contributed to the video game console crash at the time? At least the commercials made a very good point, something lacking in television ads today.
Old Vic 20 commercials
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saundby
- Vic 20 Enthusiast
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I think the biggest contribution to the crash was that home computers had been grossly oversold as to what they would do for people in the way of automating things like home finances. Once people got their hands on a system and some software, they discovered that there was this terrible problem with data entry.
The people who wanted them for games, and the people who wanted consoles for games, already had them. There had been a lot of sales in 82, so the folks in the industry thought there was nowhere to go but up. They pumped the investors, then had a weak season. Then, as in later slumps, they had no idea what their market was up to, and couldn't recognize market saturation when they reached it.
With most of their market still paying off the credit cards on the prior year's purchases, and looking to make further small purchases for those system, there just wasn't a market for as many new systems as were being projected, from as many manufacturers as there were in the market. To be honest, the hardware market had been declining and consolidating for three years at that point. The good year for the survivors in 82 fooled those who only look at a narrow section of the market into thinking the boom was here. In fact, in 82 it was in large part users of older systems from dead companies shifting to systems with more commercial success, or shifting from smaller hobbyist systems to commercial systems that were more user friendly and had commercial software available. It was not entirely the non-users' homes being opened up to computers, as was being presented by the companies to investors.
Another element was that the smaller systems were beginning to be upstaged in the public mind by higher-end systems for business. Given that computer prices were well known to have a short half-life, a lot of people decided to sit on their money through late 83 while saving their ducats for a bigger system as prices dropped there (PC, Kaypro, etc.)
It's also worth noting that some major retailers were having problems of their own that year, and were having trouble figuring out how to sell computers and software on top of that.
Anyway, that's my perspective from the time as updated by further business experience since.
The bright spot of this all for the consumer was the huge discounts on stock in the last week before Christmas and for the next few weeks. It's also worth noting that a lot of small retailers who had done a good job of building their business with their customers had a great year. I know of several small shops that did well enough to expand their shops or move to better quarters that year. The failure of a lot of other small retailers in other businesses helped make that possible, too, keeping rents down and freeing up good retail space.
-Mark G.
The people who wanted them for games, and the people who wanted consoles for games, already had them. There had been a lot of sales in 82, so the folks in the industry thought there was nowhere to go but up. They pumped the investors, then had a weak season. Then, as in later slumps, they had no idea what their market was up to, and couldn't recognize market saturation when they reached it.
With most of their market still paying off the credit cards on the prior year's purchases, and looking to make further small purchases for those system, there just wasn't a market for as many new systems as were being projected, from as many manufacturers as there were in the market. To be honest, the hardware market had been declining and consolidating for three years at that point. The good year for the survivors in 82 fooled those who only look at a narrow section of the market into thinking the boom was here. In fact, in 82 it was in large part users of older systems from dead companies shifting to systems with more commercial success, or shifting from smaller hobbyist systems to commercial systems that were more user friendly and had commercial software available. It was not entirely the non-users' homes being opened up to computers, as was being presented by the companies to investors.
Another element was that the smaller systems were beginning to be upstaged in the public mind by higher-end systems for business. Given that computer prices were well known to have a short half-life, a lot of people decided to sit on their money through late 83 while saving their ducats for a bigger system as prices dropped there (PC, Kaypro, etc.)
It's also worth noting that some major retailers were having problems of their own that year, and were having trouble figuring out how to sell computers and software on top of that.
Anyway, that's my perspective from the time as updated by further business experience since.
The bright spot of this all for the consumer was the huge discounts on stock in the last week before Christmas and for the next few weeks. It's also worth noting that a lot of small retailers who had done a good job of building their business with their customers had a great year. I know of several small shops that did well enough to expand their shops or move to better quarters that year. The failure of a lot of other small retailers in other businesses helped make that possible, too, keeping rents down and freeing up good retail space.
-Mark G.
In 1984 at Sybex Pioneer Days back in 1984, Chuck Peddle was quoted as saying, "I believe that marketing is the key to the personal computer industry - its biggest opportunity and its biggest problem. Marking is what this industry is all about."
A year later, they marketed the heck out of the Commodore 16. I still remember the radio commercials..."You're 16...you're Commodore...and you're mine." All their marketing couldn't save their poor little black machines.
A year later, they marketed the heck out of the Commodore 16. I still remember the radio commercials..."You're 16...you're Commodore...and you're mine." All their marketing couldn't save their poor little black machines.