© 1997-2006
Gareth Knight
All Rights reserved
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Escom Snippets
The Escom chain refused to sell the Amiga in their retail
stores
 Chaos reigned during the Escom period through confusion
whether theAmiga would be sold through their retail chain.
Announcements were made and then contradicted indicating that Amiga
Technologies and Escom did not see eye to eye on how to sell the
Amiga. When the Amiga eventually made it into the stores only the
low-end market was represented, in the form of an A1200 showing the
Amiga boot screen, hidden at the back of the store. The one
occasion I saw anything else running was when the Chester store
demonstrated the only A1200HD (Hard Drive) bundle they had on
stock. No demonstration of the games or productivity software
bundled with the machine. All that was shown was the 4-colour Amiga
Workbench. Many Amiga owners were also taken by the unfriendliness
of the staff that would swiftly persuade perspective buyers in the
direction of the latest Windows PC, in a few cases even lying. One
outraged Amiga fan was told by a store assistant,
"The Amiga is only around for Christmas, then it will
go out of production.
If you want a machine with a future, you are better off with an
Escom PC."
Amiga Technologies problem with Escom was exasperated by the fact
that independent retailers refused to sell the Amiga, as the money
would find it back to a competitor (Escom, in case you hadn't
guessed) in the high street. At this point the Amiga was arguably
at its lowest ebb, causing many to give up on the Amiga
market.
Advertising
The lean days of Commodore left Amiga owner desperate for any
advertising from the parent company. It therefore came as a breath
of fresh air when it was discovered Escom advertised in the German
national press, through full page ads and inserts. At the time
Escom bought the Amiga they had their own magazine, 'De ESCOM
Magazine EXTRA' (German) and 'Escom Magazine' (English). This was
little more than an advertisment brochure. However, the Amiga did
make into the magazine a few times during 1996, exposing it to PC
buyers. Some Amiga adverts from the magazine can be found here.
A1200 Released Again
After months of broken promises it was finally announced that the
A1200 was back in manufacture. Inviting the press, Amiga
Technologies took them to a plant just outside Bordeaux owned by
Solectron Corporation. Just 3 months after Amiga Technologies
contacted Solectron the first of a new generation of Amiga hardware
was completed (13th June - 13th September), showing that the Amiga
was no longer restricted by its Commodore past.
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Last Update: 1/11/2001
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