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Commodore listened, and the Callback 8020 is now $100 cheaper (www.androidpolice.com)
submitted 4 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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The Commodore Callback 8020 flip phone looks like it’s from decades ago but its price was definitely a sign of today’s times. That’s changed, with Commodore’s announcement today that it will drop the price $100 for most models before pre-orders start next week.

The phone caused a stir when it was announced a week ago. First, there was the thrill of 80s computing legend Commodore making a phone. Then the phone being retro in both look and function caught attention, with a flip-phone form factor combined with a focus on privacy. But one of the most unique features of the Callback 8020 is that it runs Android apps on Linux-based Sailfish OS instead of Android. Among all of the praise though, was criticism that a $500 starting price for the basic models was too high.

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[–] 12 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I think the problem is that they grossly over estimated how many people actually wanted to buy a "legit" Commodore branded Commodore Ultimate when they came up with the idea to buy the Commodore brand.

Now they are trying to come up with ways to make it profitable but they don't really seem to understand Product Market Fit.

I think it would be a better idea to do some high quality branded merch.

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  • [–] 7 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    AFAIK they've already fully paid off the commodore IP acquisition from C64 ultimate sales, but as you say, that cannot sustain them forever.

    The phone is pretty much entirely just the CEO's personal opinion of what a phone should be, which he's been making videos about from before the acquisition, and they appear to have done almost zero market research what the customers would want and be willing to pay..

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago

    Yes, I think part of the trick is that the CEO is a great video producer and has a large fanbase for his yt channel who are very enthusiastic about his ideas even if they won't actually buy such a phone.

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