Marinchip Systems has developed and is expanding a business relationship with Lifeboat Associates of New York City. Lifeboat is probably the largest independent software vendor in the world today, and is the primary source for application software for almost all the mass market computers sold currently. Through technical review of Marinchip products and presentations to Lifeboat customers, conversations with Lifeboat personnel, and negotiation of a very complex OEM agreement, Marinchip has come to be seen by Lifeboat as a competent organization in both the business and technical senses.
Lifeboat has expressed an interest in working with Marinchip to develop Marinchip products to be marketed through Lifeboat, particularly a QBASIC compiler for the 8086 (IBM) and Z-80 processors. Additionally, our contacts with Lifeboat give us the ability to sound out market demand for various packages, get tips on what people are asking for and not able to find, and also contacts with OEMs who want specialized work done.
Clearly then, one of the first tasks of MSP after formation will be to meet with Lifeboat and explain our business plan to them and get feedback and suggestions. I think that we already have the credibility to get work funneled our way by Lifeboat, and in any case the contacts are invaluable for market research.
MSP will concentrate on development of specific products with clearly defined functions. We will not attempt to implement grandiose systems and will not stray too far into the systems programming arena. Any program we develop must require little or no customization for installation, and little or no user consultation after sale. Otherwise, we can't afford to sell it. We're aiming for packages like Visi-Calc, Selector, Supersort, Wordstar, etc.
MSP must budget a substantial percentage of its capital for advertising and promotion. Undoubtedly, some packages will be largely marketed for us, but we cannot assume this and must realize that a market must first be created through advertising before it can be sold to.
Editor: John Walker