[TenTec] While Supplies Last

[geoffrey mendelson]

On 7/6/2014 1:58 AM, Toby Pennington wrote:
> I just noticed this little phrase in the advertising piece sent out by 
> RF Concepts concerning the sale going on now.  "While Supplies 
> Last".   It almost sounds like when the supply is exhausted there will 
> be no more of these rigs available. Implication could be that their 
> desire is to  sell down current stock,  and perhaps send out a new new 
> rig for marketing.  In retail,  " while supplies last" could mean 
> several things.
You can be sure that the one thing they want to avoid is the Osborne 
Effect. For those that do not know, Adam Osborne sold a microcomputer 
(before IBM coined the phrase Personal Computer). Osborne's computer was 
unique in the small computer business, it included software in the price 
of the computer. In those days there were few competitors for software, 
if you wanted an operating system, you HAD to buy a copy of CP/M. If you 
wanted to do word processing, from a single page letter or list to a 
novel, you HAD to buy WordStar, and so on..

Osborne included (bundled from an old IBM term) all of these and others 
with his computer and sold it for LESS than the sum of their retail prices.

He did very well, UNTIL he announced the Osborne 2. It was such a great 
advance that no one bought another Osborne 1 in anticipation of the 
Osborne 2. He went bankrupt.

Geoff.

-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson 4X1GM/N3OWJ
Jerusalem Israel.