globeron Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 (via Linkedin via a friend of me "Greg" in the wireless world got to know about this): Do we need a TI99 smart phone (see Commodore PET Smartphone) http://m.ign.com/articles/2015/07/15/commodore-smartphone-that-plays-commodore-64-games-is-coming Ofcourse there is a droid version already: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.emllabs.droid99&hl=en (and MAME for Droid) What do you think any market for it, I guess only for TI-Games? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwantgames:) Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Idk but I kinda want that commodore phone lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 (via Linkedin via a friend of me "Greg" in the wireless world got to know about this): Do we need a TI99 smart phone (see Commodore PET Smartphone) http://m.ign.com/articles/2015/07/15/commodore-smartphone-that-plays-commodore-64-games-is-coming Ofcourse there is a droid version already: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.emllabs.droid99&hl=en (and MAME for Droid) What do you think any market for it, I guess only for TI-Games? Despite the misplaced buzz (people thinking it's the real Commodore for some reason) for the "Commodore PET" smartphone, it will fail miserably. The market for mid-range Android smartphones is not exactly asking for something like this, and the relative nostalgia is only worth it to a small handful of individuals. As for a TI phone, well... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 yeah, I think it´s something like + 0.1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 To me this is a sign of market saturation and the suits in charge are trying to carve out any demographic they can for sales. From their perspective I can see this as a way to push more units to the small chunk of the 45-60 market, which arguably has more disposable income on average. To me it does seem pretty desperate to focus on such a relatively small slice of middle-age geeks like us, but hey a sale is a sale. I have no idea how well these games will play on a touch screen, or how much the games will cost. This seems more like an 'impulse buy' which I figure the consumer may tire of, then go looking for another phone, which may be exactly what the marketing guys want, because after all, a sale is a sale. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 The thing is, as was stated, there are already freely available high function C-64 and Amiga emulators for Android, so that value-add really isn't a value-add, particularly for the audience they're likely targeting for this (i.e., they'd presumably already be aware of that fact). All people are really paying for is a silk-screened "Commodore PET" on their phone. While I agree that this is clever marketing - just look at all of the play on the Internet what an otherwise generic Android phone would have never otherwise gotten - it's one that I'm highly dubious of translating into sufficient sales to necessarily even justify the price of obtaining the Commodore naming rights. At the same time, I'll also acknowledge that I have trouble envisioning how you'd differentiate such a phone on an overly crowded market anyway, so maybe this is as good of a ploy as any. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
globeron Posted July 16, 2015 Author Share Posted July 16, 2015 To me this is a sign of market saturation and the suits in charge are trying to carve out any demographic they can for sales. From their perspective I can see this as a way to push more units to the small chunk of the 45-60 market, which arguably has more disposable income on average. To me it does seem pretty desperate to focus on such a relatively small slice of middle-age geeks like us, but hey a sale is a sale. I have no idea how well these games will play on a touch screen, or how much the games will cost. This seems more like an 'impulse buy' which I figure the consumer may tire of, then go looking for another phone, which may be exactly what the marketing guys want, because after all, a sale is a sale. I am also wondering why it need to be on a phone? (then they can call someone if the game is not working? J/K). btw I also tried to write a basic program in Droid99, but I never could keys like FCTN S,D,E,X to work, etc. or other combinations and also sometimes it locks up (also tried to get XB to work, but did not work out, also it is too small for a smartphone to run a TI), I need a full keyboard (having said that...I have not tried a bluetooth keyboard with Droid99). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I have written and run several BASIC programs in Droid99 with success... The recent update with the other carts is cool. Demonstration got quite a bit of play on my phone. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Good article proving, as expected, the upcoming Commodore PET Android phone is an existing smartphone with new label (and upscaled price). http://bit.ly/1M8h8wh 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 IMO. it’s a midrange (cheap) android phone, with, not even a good looking, Commodore logo. And because of the logo, it's more expensive. The two emulators on it are available to anyone, so no reason to buy it for them.Even as a Commodore enthusiast, I won’t buy it. So would I want / need a TI99 gaming phone? Not if it’s like the one above. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I have a better idea... If you feel the need to have an extinct company logo on your phone << CLICK HERE >>. I'm sure one of these will suit your needs. Just print it up and slap it on your existing phone! With the hundreds of $ you save, you can buy some REAL IRON and enjoy it. A generic phone, an over-priced emulator with a tiny screen? <LMAO> The beauty of this plan, when you get tired of the advertising, you can just rip it off your phone. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Apparently there will not be a Commodore PET smartphone, since the people behind the project tried to register a new Commodore trademark and failed. I haven't read up on the entire story, if they tried to get a license to use the name and C=Holdings BV either refused or put a such high price tag that just as Bill L mentions above it wouldn't have been worth it. That said, I have no clue how Texas Instruments would relate to a TI-99 smartphone under similar conditions, or who has the rights to the TI-99 monicker unless it still is Texas Instruments themselves. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Texas Instruments has trademarks on "Texas Instruments" and "TI", you'd have a pretty hard time arguing that "TI-99" is its own separate trademark, especially since TI is very active in the mobile market (being a major supplier of CPUs). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 No. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 ^^succinct^^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retrospect Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Texas Instruments has trademarks on "Texas Instruments" and "TI", you'd have a pretty hard time arguing that "TI-99" is its own separate trademark, especially since TI is very active in the mobile market (being a major supplier of CPUs). I didn't think TI were doing that well with their CPU's at the moment mobile-wise? I thought they were now into other integrated tech .... their Omap chips are not stated to be the best so I've been hearing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 I didn't think TI were doing that well with their CPU's at the moment mobile-wise? I thought they were now into other integrated tech .... their Omap chips are not stated to be the best so I've been hearing. I've no idea, but how well they are doing in the market has no bearing on their ability to defend their trademark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retrospect Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 I've no idea, but how well they are doing in the market has no bearing on their ability to defend their trademark. mmm true .... do you reckon they might kick off a little if a company brought out a smartphone, in brushed aluminium, called the TI-99? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMole Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 They exited the smartphone chip market in 2012 and no longer make the OMAP chips. But they still make the calculators using Texas Instruments as a consumer facing brand, so no way they'll license anyone the right to make a TI branded smartphone without being heavily involved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 They exited the smartphone chip market in 2012 and no longer make the OMAP chips. But they still make the calculators using Texas Instruments as a consumer facing brand, so no way they'll license anyone the right to make a TI branded smartphone without being heavily involved. Let's face it, it's a non-issue anyway. The name holds no value outside a vanishingly small community of enthusiasts. The Commodore brand, thanks primarily to the C-64, is one of very few inactive vintage brands that hold any real value worldwide, so it's not surprising that new companies are regularly trying to co-opt the name. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Those of you that are into guitars might be interested to know that Marshall Amplification are releasing a Marshall amplifier themed smart phone (I think it has enhanced audio capabilities). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 They exited the smartphone chip market in 2012 and no longer make the OMAP chips. They still make OMAP chips, we put one in a NEATO robot in 2014. http://www.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbugencontent.tsp?contentId=4638&navigationId=11988&templateId=6123 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMole Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Yeah, you're right, they just seem to have stepped out of the mobile devices market in favor of embedded devices: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/25/texasinstruments-wireless-idUSL1E8KP5FN20120925?irpc=932 I just knew we weren't able to get support for any of their chips anymore for our devices (routers, modems, tablets and set-top-boxes) and remembered the news about them stepping out of the mobile phone/tablet game and figured they just stopped the entire line. I was wrong . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 These are generic smartphones, loaded up with standard emulators. And they put a name badge on them. Nothing really special here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retrospect Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 These are generic smartphones, loaded up with standard emulators. And they put a name badge on them. Nothing really special here. Well, when I read "commodore"'s comments on youtube, it seems they are not wanting anything to do with retro software, in fact, their attitude towards people in general was bad, by what I was reading. They seem to want to simply sell a standard phone on the premise of it's "pet" name .... now that to me, is bullshit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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