Re: [NTLK] Letter from Steve Jobs

From: Michael J. Hußmann <michael_at_michael-hussmann.de>
Date: Thu Jan 08 2009 - 09:07:15 EST

Frank Gruendel (newtontalk@pda-soft.de) wrote:

> I remember a time when the Powerbook 540 (not sure if at
> that time Apple notebooks were already called Powerbooks)
> was introduced. I had saved a bit, and with what today would
> amount to a couple of thousands of USD in my pocket I drove
> to Hamburg to buy one. At that time Hamburg was a city of
> approx. two million people, featuring exactly ONE Apple
> store. Said Apple store did not have the new 540.
> The shop assistant said they did not get one. Instead they
> were sent the 540's little brother, with a shitty black and
> white display. But even Little Brother couldn't be
> demonstrated because it arrived DOA due to incorrect packaging.

That would have been in 1994 -- the PowerBook 540 was a short-lived
model introduced in May '94 and discontinued a mere five months later --
and I am sure there was more than one store carrying Macs in Hamburg at
the time. There was the Gravis store in Grindelallee, and I think
Systematics (Ifflandstraße and Johnsallee) was also still around (they
went belly-up a few years later). And then there was M&M Trading
(Schrammsweg). I believe the big Karstadt department store in
Möckebergstraße was still carrying Macs too, back then.

Having said that, it is certainly true that Apple didn't make it too
easy to get a Mac in Germany, and the dealers didn't always show much
enthusiasm in selling their products (I remember trying to buy AppleTalk
Remote Access and only the third dealer was willing, albeit reluctantly,
to order it for me). Still, it wasn't quite as bad as you picture it,
especially in Hamburg.

- Michael

Michael J. Hußmann

E-mail: michael@michael-hussmann.de
WWW (personal): http://michael-hussmann.de
WWW (professional): http://digicam-experts.de

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Received on Thu Jan 8 09:07:22 2009

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