May June 1980 - Commodore Computers

MAY/JUNE. 1980. 198O. ISSUE 4. COMPUTE. 95 ■5
Edilor Editor's 'j Nole: Note: / In 11 flllllre future ismts, issues, llle'II/Jrtsrnl we'll present inlerviews interviews wilh with
J\ Marketing ' arJ.:t:li".t: /Jrrsmlnel personnelfrom Alari Atari (Iud and Commodore.
An Interview
With
Taylor Pohlman
Taylor Pohlman
Apple's Ap~le's Product
Marketing
Michael
Manager g S Tomczyk
Manager
Recently, I had an opportunity to talk with Taylor
Pohlman, Apple Computer's Product Marketing
Manager. Taylor is 33 years old aand came to Apple
less than a year ago from Hewlett Packard, where he
was educational marketing manager. During our interview,
he discussed two important areas -- computer
dealers and consumers.
HeH e described two basic types of dealers, noting
that dealers are first of all businessmen and secondly,
tend lend to operate in those markets they are most
comfortable or experienced in.
The first type of dealer is the hobbyist who becomes
a businessman. For these dealers, technology is
the e key. Since the first-round hobbyist market is
pretty y much saturated, Pohlman n feels these dealers
have to start moving g from hardware re —-- their original
orientation -- to software, and the application io n problems
ol of non-hobbyist users.
The second type of dealer is the retail businessman.
ToT o them, , selling computers is much like selling hi-fi
stereo systems. A fair amount of retail audio-visual
anda electronics outlets are personal computer dealers,
he said, anda many have already y developed the exper­
tise needed to reach the computer market. A-V
stores Stores may already be dealing with schools, for
r
example, and the educational market is a natural
for them. . Small stores also relate well to small businessmcn
because the dealers, as businessmen, , have them
emselves
encountered problems in general ledger keeping,
manufacturing, accounting, etc.
men
"The " personal computer market is emphasiz­
ing g solution-oriented merchandizing as opposed to
hardware-oriented merchandizing," Pohlman n said,
and this poses important t challenges for r all types of
computer dealers. He said Apple has 600 to 700
computer dealers, all with different interests, sales
and facilities. Some sell a single line and others a
complete line, from m small games to LO minicomputers.
m "The " question n they all have to ask is, who are an:
those hungry people outside outsidc the store sLOre who have
problems to be solved by a personal computer? m pUler? At
Apple, we try to 10 turn the dealers on to those markets --
and solutions -- whatever the dealer's ''focus'. By
''focus' I mcan mean hobbyist, businessman, educator, , home
entertainment user. .... . .but whatever it its s focus, a
good Apple store doesn't n )t confuse the e custOmer.
customer.
""For example, the businessman doesn't ' t want to
know this microprocessor runs 20 percent faster than
that one. He wants to know will it solve hiss
problem? On the other hand, the store that just has
a bunch of hardware silting sitting aaround may respond well
to the hobbyist by making the hardware available on
the floor aand letting himm look inside." " (Incidentally,
Taylor Pohlman's n definition of a computer hobbyist is,
""the e individual who's interested ted in thee manmachine
interface.")
Hee kept emphasizing that the key to the overall
personal computer market is problem-solving. In this
regard, rd , Apple's magazines aand other literature ture are
rc
designed to trigger people's problem-solving
approaches and stimulate their imagination. ation . He also
called attention to the company's seminarr program,
which encourages dealers to get out and give seminars
where thee people are arc -- at Rotary Clubs orr real
estate groups, forr example. Apple provides instruc­
tional and advertising materials to dealers for this
purpose.
""For the dealer to survive in the new marketplace,
he's also goingg to havc have to provide service aand
suppOrt support -- not just j sales," he said. Consequently,
Apple has a modular design and can be field-repaired
at over 500 dealer-based repair centers, in 24 hours.
If the e dealer can't ' t repair it, , he can simply replace the
failed part aand send it to Apple for repair. This is
especially {"spcciall y important to the businessman, who can't
allord afford to have his general ledger or other system
go down for a week.
Turning his s attention attcn tion to consumers, he guessed
that there therc are "tens " of 0(" thousands" of Apples in
homes, mcs, schools, and companies. "We're " the oneo personal l computer vendor that has achieved a truly
disk-basedd population n -- as opposedo to those who are
still outo there hyping g cassettes. es. Disk-based software
is more ma rc sophisticated and makes the e Apple more useful
and powerful as a problem-solving tool. LOol.
"What " I, as a consumer, , want t is a computer
that allows me to define e a problem and allows the
machine to solve it in language and terms that t I
can n understand. nd. If the problem is solved I could care
less what the e machine is doing." He added that lhal the
e
level of computer pUler awareness is very high but the
level of computer literacy is not nearly high enough to
create the e "home " computer revolution," mostly y because
right now using g a computer means you u have to:
- define a problem
- create an algorhylhm ythm lo to solve the problem
- write e programs to express the algorhythm
hm
- put the e program in the e computer
- run n and debug (he th e program
"A lot of time lime is wasted trying tryill g to translate LranslaLe information,
,
and a this is wasted time is directly y related to the reluclance
—-- or lack of reluctance -- of customers lo to tance get