Date: 31 March 1999
Subject: Interview with Mr. Petro Tyschtschenko
From: Christophe Heereman alias Toffel
Org: Waaslandia Amiga-Only Club (WAC)
Waaslandia Amiga-Only Club (WAC), the biggest Belgian Amiga user group, is proud to present its latest interview... with Mr. Petro Tyschtschenko,
This interview was said to be published on 3 places on the Net: comp.sys.amiga.misc and very soon also on http://titan.glo.be/~waasland (the site of WAC) and http://come.to/amigabnl (Amiga Benelux). It will also appear in one of the next club mags of WAC and perhaps in the new and only Dutch Amiga magazine "Amiga Scene".
The "author" is Christophe Heereman alias Toffel and can be reached via pheerema@xs4all.be or snail mail/telephone (see signature below). He and WAC thank Mr. Petro Tyschtschenko for this interview.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
1) Can you describe the new official structure of AMIGA? Which departments have been installed and who is heading what? What is Amiga Inc. and AMIGA International, Inc. within the current structure?
PTY : Of course. We will be under one roof. So Amiga Inc and AMIGA International, Inc. will be unified, which makes a lot of sense. Amiga needs one direction, to be successful in the future. Due to legal reason, Amiga International, Inc. will be still a legal entity and I will be the Managing Director. I am reporting to Mr. Jim Collas, the President and CEO of AMIGA. Jim is located in San Diego, Cal. and I will be remaining in Langen, Germany, close to Frankfurt am Main. As you can see on our webpage, we have already only one website, independent if you click AMIGA .com or AMIGA.de.
2) How will the structure be expanded in the future? Will new departments be installed? If so, which?
PTY: To Jim Collas are reporting directly 6 Vicepresidents, including myself. Dr.Allan Havemose, he is located in San Jose, Cal. and he is responsible for O/S Software Development New Generation. We just have hired a System Engeneer for Technical Research and a Controller, responsible for all Finance and Administration. Both will be located in San Diego. Jeff Schindler will be responsible for Strategy & Product Management NG, and Jim vonHolle, is in charge for Marketing NG. Both are also located in San Diego As I mentioned already, I will stay in Langen and will be responsible for the existing AMIGA Line (sorry but I do not like the expression CLASSIC) and will take care about the contingency of this great Technology , for licensing of the existing Technology and Merchandise Products, for Sales and Distribution worldwide, for Usergroup Communication and Support, for the AMIGA Website and for Logistic and Service. The plan is to hire in the states minimum 50 people in addition to the management, mainly for research and development. You should be aware that an organisation is always a living organism and have to be flexible to the market needs. I think with the existing Management we have a real strong force to conquer together the future and to be very succesful as a team.
3) Are there plans to install country departments for other countries than Germany and the USA? If so, when will we see AMIGA UK, AMIGA Belgium, AMIGA The Netherlands,...?
PTY: As I explained the organisation has to be flexible, and I am quite sure that there will be a lot of changes in the near future. If the market is asking after subsidiaries, please be sure we will install those. I will take care about this.
4) Which continents/countries/regions form the main target for AMIGA concerning the Amiga-II?
PTY: We are an international company. And we will target our products worldwide. The world gets smaller and smaller and we have to acting global. AMIGA always operated worldwide, we will not change this.
5) Will we see sport teams wearing Amiga shirts again? Will we see Amiga commercials on TV, in papers, in computer magazines,... Can you tell us already some marketing/publicity/PR plans?
PTY: We have a big goal and to reach this target we have to act in a professional way. We will work out a Marketing Plan for the NG and we will soon present our new strategy.
6) Are there plans to contact schools, universities, study centra,... to inform them of the Amiga-II? Will 'special offers' be provided?
PTY: Also that is a very important move, we will perform. But please do not forget, after two years slow motion, unfortuneately, we are just starting to generate a lot of activities driven by Jim Collas. The transition time will be always critical, but I have no worry we must be successful on the end.
7) What does AMIGA mean with "in the tradition of the AMIGA 500" when they talk about the low-end Amiga-II? The tradition of quality, revolution, quantity, sight,...?
PTY: AMIGA always have had a low end and a high end product. We will continue this strategy. But please watch our new announcements which you can see on our website soon. Our goal is to create a revolutionary and compelling systems architecture and operating environment for multimedia computers and digital information appliances which can easily be imbedded into consumer computing devices and enables innovative Internet services.
8) The Developer Amiga will be produced by AMIGA. What about the hand-held Internet device and the low-end Amiga-II? Will this be released by AMIGA or Gateway, Inc.?
PTY: In the current stage we are talking with a lot of possible strategic partners and we will also give soon an answer to this question.
9) Does AMIGA plan to release other products after these? Will we see a tower-based Amiga-II for the people who need a lot of cards and internal peripherals?
PTY: Please believe me we are working on a lot of very intresting subjects.....but it is to early to talk about this today... Please understand this.
10) What is true about the rumour that Sony and Amiga are working together? Will the PSX2, as some people say, be that first Amiga-II game console?
PTY: Rumours, rumours, rumours. Of course, as I mentioned before we have had a lot of very intresting discussions with different possible partners, but we are still in the process of evaluation.
11) On amiga.org and different other sites/forums we could read that Corel is planning to develop for the Amiga-II. Can you confirm/deny this? What about the rumours that Adobe will join the market too? Are there already other strategic partners for the moment (except for QSSL) and if so, when will we know them?
PTY: Here I have to give the same answer....We have had a lot of very intresting discussions with very potential companies. But it is toooo early to talk about this.....
12) How do you see the future of the Amiga? What is the minimum amount of Amiga-IIs that should be sold in the first 12 months after the release in 2Q 2000? What does AMIGA expect?
PTY: As you know I never gave up in my live. I always believe in AMIGA, even a lot of people laughed about me. I went through two bankruptcies and never lost my faith in AMIGA......We will have a bright future.....the time is ripe for success....
13) What is your personal opinion about the future? How big do you see the market in short, middle long, long and very long term? What will be the place of the Amiga in the computer world?
PTY: I do not have a cristal ball to answer you this question, but what I heard so far, the vision, and what I have seen sofar, the professionality of Jim Collas, we will soon have the first success with our OS 3.5, followed by the NG in November 99. We will be in Cologne in November 99 showing suprises and we are planning to be in Las Vegas at the Comdex this year as well.....We are also planning to have a World of Amiga in London.
14) When AMIGA will be as big (or bigger) than M$, what will AMIGA do when the court tells you to split the company? :))
PTY: We are not trying to be a monopoly....we will be a joice...but a good one....maybe the best. I think we will never háve this problem.
(The latest question is a question from one of our club members :))
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