The Resource Magazine For Apple, Atari, and Commodore ...

COMPUTE! September/October, 1980. issue 6
Robert C. Lock, Publisher/Editor
Joretta Klepfer, Associate Editor
Carol Holmquist Lock, Circulation Manager
J. Gary Dean, Art Direction/Production
Assistance
COMPUTE receives continuing editorial
assistance from the following persons:
Harvey Herman, University of North Caro
lina at Greensboro
Jim Butterfield, Toronto, Canada
Larry Isaacs, Raleigh, NC
The following writers contribute on a regu
lar basis as Contributing Editors:
Al Baker, 2327 S. Westminster, Wheaton, IL
6O187
Gene Beals, 115 E. Stump Road, Montgomeryville,
PA 18936
Len Lindsay, 1929 Northport Drive #6,
Madison, Wl 537O4
Roy O'Brien, P.O. Box 426, Beaumont, CA
92223
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acknowledge that such materials, upon acceptance for
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PUTE., in future publications. Unsolicited materials not accepted
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COMPUTE, assumes no liability for errors in articles or adver
tisements Opinions expressed by authors are not necessarily
those of COMPUTE.
PET is a trademark of Commodore Business Machines. Inc.
Apple is a trademark of Apple Computer Company
Atari is a trademark of Atari, Inc.
The Editor's
Notes
Robert Lock, Publisher/Editor
Atari Marches On But
Where Is Southern California?
It appears that the Atari machines have really picked
up in sales. Southern California notwithstanding, the
feedback I'm getting is that dealers ranging from the
bigger mail order houses to the local corner store are
seeing a great deal of buying interest in the hardware.
Now I'm talking about US sales only, in as much as
Atari's not really cranked up yet outside the US.
And it honestly looks as if there's movement. Cer
tainly makes the dealers happy, and COMPUTE
also for that matter, in as much as we've been sup
porting the Atari since our beginning. It appears that
the upsurge in buying began in mid to late June, and
hasn't let up. Okay, so why all this ballyhoo from
here? I'm setting the stage for some comments on
Southern
California:
The Background
Southern California, as we all know, has long been a
focal point for the state of the art in small computing
activity. There's much activity elsewhere of course,
but Southern California has been active in develop
ing what I would describe as a more advanced
market. If you look at the number of major firms
based out there you'll see a bit of what I mean.
The Apple Phenomena
This area enjoys an extremely active Apple market.
In the LA area for example there must be dozens of
dealers who are first and foremost Apple dealers.
It appears that some of the dealers have ab
solutely refused to carry the Atari, even to the point
of occasionally calling it bad names and describing it
in perjorative terms. And with an area of such
tremendous Apple loyalty, that seems understan
dable. But on with the story.
The Feedback Cycle
Given the nature of the small computer market, all
of us who are involved in any way with the activity
of marketing a productr or service to users and
buyers of these small computers rely on various
means of marketplace feedback to develop and main
tain marketing plans.
From here, I rely on numerous inputs, including
those from dealers and subscribers all over the US.
I've run into several advertisers in the last few weeks
who have traditionally relied on their dealer contacts
in that area to provide some portion of their planning
feedback. In each of these cases, both advertisers had