8,732
edits
Changes
→Many user groups see unprecedented growth coming their way
"Reducing the price below $300 was a mistake," comments Rik Papagolos, president of the Tri-State Users Group. He also believes the firm "pushed the command module too heavily," giving the impression that the computer was merely a machine into which to plug cartridges, like an Atari game machine. "It was marketed as a game machine and as an educational machine, but not as a computer."
"They spent enough money onadvertising," he notes. "Theiradvertising budget was adequate.They just had terrible commercials.The only thing they did right was hiringBill Cosby, but hiring him andgiving him terrible commercialswasn't right." He says that the TexasInstruments user group coordinatorhas not been in contact with his groupsince TI announced it was quitting ·the home computer market. "I.think they're missing the ball,"he says. Charles D. Bathman,. president ofNET 99er in Hurst,. Texas, believes·believes that TI should have "gone out andproved that they were better thanApple. They should have advertisedhow good it is and more capable thanmachines t,l;l,at w.r that were more exnPnsiveexpensive." He. also plives believes TI was ''"too stingywith allowing third party manufacturers·to· to produce software." TI"tried to get all the gravy," he says.
