The Atari Museum has acquired the Atari-Amiga contract and Atari engineering logs revealing that the Atari Amiga was originally designated as the 1850XLD.
With quarterly sales ending 1983 of $49 million (equivalent to $ million in ), Commodore was one of the world's largest personal computer manufacturers. ==History== ===Founding and early years=== Commodore co-founders Jack Tramiel and Manfred Kapp met in the early 1950s while both employed by the Ace Typewriter Repair Company in New York City.
In 1954, they formed a partnership to sell used and reconditioned typewriters and used their profits to purchase the Singer Typewriter Company.
After acquiring a local dealership selling Everest adding machines, Tramiel convinced Everest to give him and Kapp exclusive Canadian rights to its products and established Everest Office Machines in Toronto in 1955. By 1958, the adding machine business was slowing, but Tramiel made a connection with an Everest agent in England who alerted him to a business opportunity to import into Canada portable typewriters manufactured by a Czechoslovakian company.
After acquiring a local dealership selling Everest adding machines, Tramiel convinced Everest to give him and Kapp exclusive Canadian rights to its products and established Everest Office Machines in Toronto in 1955. By 1958, the adding machine business was slowing, but Tramiel made a connection with an Everest agent in England who alerted him to a business opportunity to import into Canada portable typewriters manufactured by a Czechoslovakian company.
On October 10, 1958, Tramiel and Kapp incorporated Commodore Portable Typewriter, Ltd.
In 1962, the company went public on the Montreal Stock Exchange, under the name of Commodore Business Machines (Canada), Ltd. With the financial backing of Atlantic Acceptance, Commodore expanded rapidly in the early 1960s.
As part of the deal, Gould became the new chairman of the company. Through his Japanese contacts, Tramiel saw some of the first electronic calculators in the late 1960s and pivoted from adding machines to marketing calculators produced by companies like Casio under the Commodore brand name.
In 1962, the company went public on the Montreal Stock Exchange, under the name of Commodore Business Machines (Canada), Ltd. With the financial backing of Atlantic Acceptance, Commodore expanded rapidly in the early 1960s.
In 1965, it purchased the furniture company for which it served as the distributor and moved its headquarters to that company's facilities on Warden Avenue in the Scarborough district of Toronto.
That same year, the company made a deal with a Japanese manufacturer to produce adding machines for Commodore and purchased the office supply retailer Wilson Stationers to serve as an outlet for its typewriters. In 1965, Atlantic Acceptance collapsed when it failed to make a routine payment.
Commodore now owed Gould money and still did not have sufficient capital to meet its payments, so Tramiel sold 17.9% of the company to Gould in 1966 for $500,000.
In 1969, Commodore began manufacturing its own electronic calculators.
Commodore International (CI), along with its subsidiary Commodore Business Machines (CBM), was a significant participant in the development of the [computer|home] personal computer industry in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.
Commodore soon had a profitable calculator line and was one of the more popular brands in the early 1970s, producing both consumer as well as scientific/programmable calculators.
However, in 1975, Texas Instruments, the main supplier of calculator parts, entered the market directly and put out a line of machines priced at less than Commodore's cost for the parts.
Commodore obtained an infusion of cash from Gould, which Tramiel used beginning in 1976 to purchase several second-source chip suppliers, including MOS Technology, Inc., in order to assure his supply.
From PET's 1977 debut, Commodore would be a computer company. Commodore had been reorganized the year before into Commodore International, Ltd., moving its financial headquarters to the Bahamas and its operational headquarters to West Chester, Pennsylvania, near the MOS Technology site.
Commodore brought this new 32-bit computer design (initially codenamed "Lorraine") from 1979, and had been called High-Toro from 1980 to 1981 then later dubbed the Amiga, under Amiga Inc.
Commodore International (CI), along with its subsidiary Commodore Business Machines (CBM), was a significant participant in the development of the [computer|home] personal computer industry in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.
In 1980 Commodore launched production for the European market in Braunschweig (Germany). By 1980, Commodore was one of the three largest microcomputer companies and the largest in the Common Market.
Commodore brought this new 32-bit computer design (initially codenamed "Lorraine") from 1979, and had been called High-Toro from 1980 to 1981 then later dubbed the Amiga, under Amiga Inc.
By the late 1980s, the personal computer market had become dominated by the IBM PC and Apple Macintosh platforms and Commodore's marketing efforts for the Amiga were less successful in breaking the new computer into this now-established market than its promotions for the 8-bit line had been in making Commodore the home computer leader.
This was addressed with the VIC-20 in 1981, which was introduced at a cost of US$299 and sold in retail stores.
TI responded by cutting prices on its TI-99/4A, which had been introduced in 1981.
Commodore brought this new 32-bit computer design (initially codenamed "Lorraine") from 1979, and had been called High-Toro from 1980 to 1981 then later dubbed the Amiga, under Amiga Inc.
The Atari ST was technology-wise almost out, however the Amiga was out sooner. During development in 1981, Amiga had exhausted venture capital and was desperate for more financing.
In another promotion aimed at schools (and as a way of getting rid of old unsold inventory), some PET models labeled "Teacher's PET" were given away as part of a "buy 2 get 1 free" promotion. In 1982, Commodore introduced the Commodore 64 as the successor to the VIC-20.
These were: 1982, 1983 and one more after Commodore bought Amiga in 1984, after which it was released only to the local public.
With quarterly sales ending 1983 of $49 million (equivalent to $ million in ), Commodore was one of the world's largest personal computer manufacturers. ==History== ===Founding and early years=== Commodore co-founders Jack Tramiel and Manfred Kapp met in the early 1950s while both employed by the Ace Typewriter Repair Company in New York City.
Early C64 advertisements boasted, "You can't buy a better computer at twice the price." Australian adverts in the mid-1980s used a tune speaking the words "Are you keeping up with the Commodore? Because the Commodore is keeping up with you." In 1983, Tramiel decided to focus on market share and cut the price of the VIC-20 and C64 dramatically, starting what would be called the "home computer war".
By the end of this conflict, Commodore had shipped somewhere around 22 million C64s, making the C64 the best selling computer of all time. At the June 1983 Consumer Electronics Show, Commodore lowered the retail price of the 64 to $300, and stores sold it for as little as $199.
Its vertical integration and Tramiel's focus on cost control helped Commodore do well during the price war, with $1 billion in 1983 sales.
These were: 1982, 1983 and one more after Commodore bought Amiga in 1984, after which it was released only to the local public.
In 1984, the company's British branch became the first manufacturer to receive a royal warrant for computer business systems.
ST battle=== Although by early 1984, Creative Computing compared Commodore to "a well-armed battleship [which] rules the micro waves" and threatened to destroy rivals like Atari and Coleco, Commodore's board of directors were as impacted as anyone else by the price spiral and decided they wanted out.
An internal power struggle resulted; in January 1984, Tramiel resigned due to intense disagreement with the chairman of the board, Irving Gould.
It did so by buying a small startup company called Amiga Corporation in February 1984, for $25 million ($12.8 million in cash and 550,000 in common shares) which became a subsidiary of Commodore, called Commodore-Amiga, Inc.
These were: 1982, 1983 and one more after Commodore bought Amiga in 1984, after which it was released only to the local public.
In July 1984 he bought the consumer side of Atari Inc.
After several on-again/off-again talks with Atari in May and June 1984, Tramiel had secured his funding and bought Atari's Consumer Division (which included the console and home computer departments) in July. As more execs and researchers left Commodore after the announcement to join up with Tramiel's new company Atari Corp., Commodore followed by filing lawsuits against four former engineers for theft of trade secrets in late July.
VC-20 and VIC-1001 (1981 [VIC-1001] / 1984) (CBM); Commodore CBM-II range a.k.a.
The ALPS mechanism was shared with a number of other 8 bit computers of the era, including Tandy, Atari and Apple among others. ===Software=== Commodore's own software had a poor reputation; InfoWorld in 1984, for example, stated that "so far, the normal standard for Commodore software is mediocrity".
The company developed and marketed the world's best-selling desktop computer, the Commodore 64 (1982), and released its Amiga computer line in July 1985.
Then in 1985 Commodore re-released it to the world.
from Warner Communications which allowed him to strike back and release the Atari ST earlier in 1985 for about $800.
As early as 1986, the mainstream press was predicting Commodore's demise, and in 1990 Computer Gaming World wrote of its "abysmal record of customer and technical support in the past".
This was reflected in sales numbers for the two platforms until the release of the Amiga 500 in 1987, which led the Amiga sales to exceed the ST by about 1.5 to 1, despite reaching the market later.
However, upon the 1987 introduction of the Amiga 2000, Commodore retreated from its earlier strategy of selling its computers to discount outlets and toy stores, and now favored authorized dealers.
Software developers also disliked the company, with one stating that "Dealing with Commodore was like dealing with Attila the Hun." At the 1987 Comdex, an informal InfoWorld survey found that none of the developers present planned to write for Commodore platforms.
Commodore International (CI), along with its subsidiary Commodore Business Machines (CBM), was a significant participant in the development of the [computer|home] personal computer industry in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.
As early as 1986, the mainstream press was predicting Commodore's demise, and in 1990 Computer Gaming World wrote of its "abysmal record of customer and technical support in the past".
Commodore introduced a range of PC compatible systems designed by its German division, and while the Commodore name was better known in the US than some of its competition, the systems' price and specs were only average. In 1992, the A600 replaced the A500.
David Pleasance, managing director of Commodore UK, described the A600 as a 'complete and utter screw-up'. In 1992, Commodore released the Amiga 1200 and Amiga 4000 computers, which featured an improved graphics chipset, the AGA.
In other words, here, too, it might have been better to focus on the core business than jump on a console and hope to sell 300,000 or more units in a short period of time to avoid bankruptcy. In 1992, all UK servicing and warranty repairs were outsourced to Wang Laboratories, which was replaced by ICL after failing to meet repair demand during the Christmas rush in 1992.
The advent of PC games using 3D graphics such as Doom and Wolfenstein 3D spelled the end of Amiga as a gaming platform, due to mismanagement. In 1993, the 'make or break' system, according to Pleasance, was a 32-bit CD-ROM-based game console called the Amiga CD32, but it was not sufficiently profitable to put Commodore back in the black.
By 1994, only the operations in Germany and the United Kingdom were still profitable.
the successful bidder was German PC conglomerate Escom, and Commodore UK went into liquidation on August 30, 1995. In 1995 Escom paid US$14 million for the assets of Commodore International.
However, it soon started losing money due to over-expansion, went bankrupt on July 15, 1996, and was liquidated. In September 1997, the Commodore brand name was acquired by Dutch computer maker Tulip Computers. In July 2004, Tulip announced a new series of products using the Commodore name: fPET, a flash memory-based USB Flash drive; mPET, a flash-based MP3 Player and digital recorder; eVIC, a 20 GB music player.
However, it soon started losing money due to over-expansion, went bankrupt on July 15, 1996, and was liquidated. In September 1997, the Commodore brand name was acquired by Dutch computer maker Tulip Computers. In July 2004, Tulip announced a new series of products using the Commodore name: fPET, a flash memory-based USB Flash drive; mPET, a flash-based MP3 Player and digital recorder; eVIC, a 20 GB music player.
PC clone maker Gateway 2000 in 1997, who retained the patents and sold the copyrights and trademarks, together with a license to use the patents, to Amiga, Inc., a Washington company founded, among others, by former Gateway subcontractors Bill McEwen and Fleecy Moss in 2000.
By 1999 it had $21 million in revenues and 183 employees.
However, upon the 1987 introduction of the Amiga 2000, Commodore retreated from its earlier strategy of selling its computers to discount outlets and toy stores, and now favored authorized dealers.
CBM continued selling the Amiga 2000 with 7.14 MHz 68000 CPUs, even though the Amiga 3000 with its 25 MHz 68030 was on the market.
PC clone maker Gateway 2000 in 1997, who retained the patents and sold the copyrights and trademarks, together with a license to use the patents, to Amiga, Inc., a Washington company founded, among others, by former Gateway subcontractors Bill McEwen and Fleecy Moss in 2000.
However, in 2001 the United States Environmental Protection Agency shut the plant down.
announced that on April 23, 2003 it had transferred its rights over past and future versions of the Amiga OS (but not yet over other intellectual property) to Itec, LLC, later acquired by KMOS, Inc., a Delaware company.
However, it soon started losing money due to over-expansion, went bankrupt on July 15, 1996, and was liquidated. In September 1997, the Commodore brand name was acquired by Dutch computer maker Tulip Computers. In July 2004, Tulip announced a new series of products using the Commodore name: fPET, a flash memory-based USB Flash drive; mPET, a flash-based MP3 Player and digital recorder; eVIC, a 20 GB music player.
Also, it licensed the Commodore trademark and Chicken Lips logo to the producers of the C64 DTV, a single-chip implementation of the Commodore 64 computer with 30 built-in games. In late 2004, Tulip sold the Commodore trademarks to Yeahronimo Media Ventures for €22 million.
On March 15, 2004, Amiga, Inc.
The sale was completed in March 2005 after months of negotiations.
On March 16, 2005, KMOS, Inc.
On June 24, 2009, CIC renamed itself to Reunite Investments.
The brand is now owned by C= Holdings (formerly Commodore International B.V.): Reunite became the sole owner of it in 2010, after buying the remaining shares from the bankrupt Nedfield, then sold it to Commodore Licensing BV, a subsidiary of Asiarim, later in 2010.
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