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Re: 200 apple II clones confirmed
Ernest wrote:
"Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com> wrote
Great site, Ernest!
Thank you, Mr. Mahon. I also agree with your ideas about why companies would
clone the Basis 108. From what I was able to read between the lines, it
appears that the Medfly might also have been a case of industrial espionage.
Apparently, the company in China (I think) that built their motherboards was
a bit dodgy, and the company thought it might be able to make money
producing their own Basis (on the cheap) for local consumption. Somehow, a
few of the Medflys escaped to Australia, where they were reviewed by a
computer magazine. Basis got wind of this, and decided to form some sort of
partnership. The alternative was to sue their production company and go to
the trouble of finding a new producer, etc. Basis probably didn't have the
money or time for that, so the partnership makes sense in a way. Some of
this is clear in the letter, but other parts are conjecture -particularly
the part about why Basis would work with a company that would rip them off.
Its ironic considering that Basis was ripping off Apple.
And exactly this pattern is still playing out today.
Many companies feel they must manufacture in China to be competitive,
but know that unless they reserve some "secret sauce" to be added
here, they will be competing with their own design sold under a
generic name!
It is so easy to fill an order for 20 thousand units by making
25-30 thousand units, then off-branding and selling the excess
units with no design overhead! IP is still a weird concept in
China.
-michael
New, faster SUDOKU v2.0 solver for Apple II's!
Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
"The wastebasket is our most important design
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