Re: What happened to the Zip chip?!?!

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) writes...

>spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) wrote:
>
>>    Well there are only 200 people subscribing to Juiced.GS,
>>that figure would confirm my "several dozen people" making
>>up the Apple IIgs market (the activate buying half anyway).
>>If you produce a new piece of hardware or software, you do
>>risk losing money with such a small market size, that is
>>why companies like CMD are not interested in penetrating
>>the Apple II "market", there is little chance of making a
>>sizable profit and a great chance of actually losing money.
>
>Juiced GS only reflects a subset of GS users

    Well Juiced.GS is now the *only* Apple IIGS publication left,
and while not every remaining GS user may subscribe to it, surely
the majority of them do (again, those actively investing time and
money into their GSes, the ones who make up the "GS market").

    I would say Juiced.GS reflects a subset of the GS users who
still regularly purchase new hardware and software. There is no
price barrier either, Juiced.GS is only US$12 per year. Now, go
compare the number of subscribers to Amiga printed publications
that remain, and you can bet it's more than about 16 dozen (the
Amiga still has a market, which is why Gateway is interested in
resurrecting the machine).

>and no IIe, IIc, IIc Plus, or other A2 users.  Try Shareware
>Solutions II.

    Shareware Solutions II does have a larger subscription base,
seeing that covers all models of the Apple II family, but even
that publication reflects the active _buying_ market. SSII has
what, 3, maybe 4 times the subscription base of Juiced.GS?

>Also, not many people subscribe to both.  Add them together...

    I'm quite certain there is a fair bit of overlap, with people
subscribing to both publications (they're two unique newsletters
that are very different from one another, not really in any kind
of competition--like say InCider and A+, or GS+ and SoftDisk GS).
One newsletter gives you a narrow focus, based entirely around
news of the Apple IIGS, while the other gives a very broad focus
of the Apple II world in general. I could easily see most Apple
IIgs users subscribing to both.

    My point here is about the size of the Apple IIgs _market_,
where money and profit are to be made. That, IMO, is pratically
non-existent these days. If you want to talk about the number
of people interested in the Apple IIgs however, that number is
significantly greater. When I say the GS market is dead, that
is certainly different from saying the machine itself is dead.

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca