Executor 2.0/executorv2.0.iso/pc/linux/extra/docs/maillist/text/archive.96/text2840.txt

Text File | 1996-07-25 | 3.6 KB | 77 lines

>>>>> "Martyn" == Martyn B Drake <[e-mail]> writes:
In article <31965ff1.1478996@139.222.130.3> [e-mail] (Martyn B. Drake) writes:


    Martyn> Hello, Could somebody please explain why ARDI have
    Martyn> increased the student price of Executor from $49 to $149
    Martyn> as from May 15?

Actually, it's as of May 16.  May 15 is the *last day* that we'll
accept student orders.

There are many reasons, but all are due to ARDI being very small.

Starting May 16, all new Executor licensees will be sent a copy of
Executor on CD-ROM -- they'll be sent beta1.  Because we're doing
beta1 in such a small quantity they're much more expensive to make and
ship than Executor 2 will be.  When you add in the extra time that it
takes to confirm that someone really is a student and then realize
that Melissa, the person who processes orders, is also our webmistress
and mini-manual author, it makes much more sense for us to "shake the
tree" now and get all the student orders out of the way and to put
that pricing on hold while we concentrate on getting Executor 2 out
the door.

If ARDI were a larger company then it would be much easier to have
someone assigned to do student orders.  If we were getting more
student orders than we were, we could even train a new hire and have
that person do the work, leaving Melissa to do all the important stuff
she's currently doing.  But we don't get enough to justify that.

We are also lining up distributors and other resellers during the beta
period and we want input from them concerning the continuation of
student pricing.  For ARDI to take off we'll need to increase our
current sales by approximately a factor of four.  We think that having
Executor 2 as a nicely packaged CD-ROM will help and we also
anticipate a lot of favorable press (we'll be sending beta1 CD-ROMs to
many press people to give them a "heads up"), but one other way in
which we'll be expanding our sales is to sell through resellers, so
it's important that we listen to their concerns.

When Executor is out of beta, it's suggested retail price will be
$249.  My guess is that the street price will be significantly lower
than that.  There are some resellers who specialize in doing
educational sales.  We'll be talking with them and seeing what we can
work out that will give them a margin that makes selling Executor
worthwhile to them, but still gives us enough of a margin to make it
worthwhile to us, all while making sure that the student price isn't
abused by non-students.

    Martyn> If I were to purchase Executor after May
    Martyn> 15 it would make it too expensive for me to buy it and I
    Martyn> certainly do not have the funds now even to buy the $49
    Martyn> offer.

We think the changes we're making are good for ARDI (ARDI is several
hundred thousand dollars in debt -- developing Executor was not cheap)
and good for existing Executor users (more money in ARDI's hands
results in better versions of Executor available sooner) and, overall,
also good for ARDI's future customers (by concentrating our efforts on
our beta program we are likely to have a better finished product).  On
top of that, considering the circumstances (we gave plenty of warning,
we're still in debt, we're a small company, etc.), our prices are also
fair.

    Martyn> Many thanks, and all help is appreciated.

Sorry that you're caught in the crunch.

    Martyn>     Martyn -- All opinions are my own and are not
    Martyn> necessarily shared by my university * The Ultimate TV &
    Martyn> Movie MIDI Page UK Mirror: *
    Martyn> http://www.sys.uea.ac.uk/~u9417982/mirror/mrdata/

--Cliff
[e-mail]