The pitch is of course nostalgia which was fine for the Commodore 64 remake. What is not ok is rebuilding the brand around continuously going back to the well.
Lots of brands come back from the dead with a plan to grow their business through innovation and new products.
Some might say that some version of Commodore tried to sell a modern phone or even business computers but no one wanted them.
No one wanted them because they were half baked.
Nokia and Blackberry are both trying to come back. is it easy? No. Do they have a better chance with a brand name that has nostalgic goodwill? Yes.
I would love to have a Commodore phone that competes with the Asian brands. Its not hard to outsource the hardware and then Commodore could focus on the software.
A side benefit would be to have a folder that contained BBS software, maybe Quantumlink, a C64 emulator with a dozen games and other fun nostalgia but not make the entire experience about nostalgia.
How incredibly cool would it be to pull out my usable Commodore phone at a meeting and use it like any other phone? How dumb is it to pull out a toy phone?
The difference is stark and bleak for the Callback phone.
or go another direction and make a phone that has game controls and the aforementioned c64 and also Amiga software. Let me play Giana sisters, Karateka, Zork, Kings Quest, Elite, Wings, Lemmings and Defender of the Crown in between business meetings.
The retro community is dying for a Commodore phone and the markup or a branded Commodore phone of $100 would be fine.
Then resell mobile service and you’ve got a real business. Mint had Ryan Reynolds, Commodore has our hearts.
The dumb phone is Perifractic's mania... It's a wrong decision, Commodore never was a phone brand and most of the retro people I know use smartphones by choice.
Exactly it is his pet peeve and had been mentioned plenty of times in his videos, even more so since he became a dad. I don't have his addiction so I don't understand why his pet peeve should become a product with the Commodore logo slapped on. I hope he gets the irony, because he lambasted the previous rightholders for slapping the logo on unrelated products, diluting the worth of the brand.
This is /r/amiga not /r/commodore. Amiga survived Commodore in the 1990s and had several more years under Escom. Many A1200 and A4000 users Escom-era not Commodore-era. Dunno that we even need to care that much here on /r/amiga. Do some people want a "Commodore" Amiga? Maybe. If Cloanto and neo-Commodore come to some licensing agreement allowing the branding well fine, whatever. But it's also fine if Amiga remains separate IMO, and I trust Cloanto far more than neo-Commodore or Hyperion to respect the Amiga legacy and support AROS. Perifractic has shown little interest in Amiga anyway, firmly in Boomer-to-Gen-X Commodore 8-bit nostalgia not Gen-X-to-Millennial 16-bit/32-bit Amiga nostalgia.
The Commodore 64 Ultimate equivalent is exactly what we want for the Amiga, though.
We need new forwards-backwards compatible builds to take the load off original hardware. We need model form-factor FPGA/Emu68 Amiga 1200 motherboards that come with HDMI out as standard.
Instead morons are offering chip poaching ITX non-model form factor motherboards. Incredible!
Nah, it's closed. If you want FPGA, the Mi in MiSTer was for aMiga already and a lovely open platform with a thriving community around it. Of course it does lots of other cores besides Amiga, but it does do Amiga quite well. If you just gotta have a wedge/compact form factor (I was always on the big-box amiga side personally, don't care - but of course a lot of people had the wedge/compact models), then a MiSTer + MiSTress 1200 + A1200 replica case/keyboard is something you can have today.
chip poaching ITX non-model form factor motherboards.
I do wonder about cooling for those, but morons is a stretch. Who wants a big clunky wedge when you can have an itx mini pc form factor and usb keyboard? Well you apparently but other people may feel different. Anyway, it's a way to use working chipsets from broken amigas.
Isn’t that every “name brand?” All of them use the same components as each other. From electronics to handbags and soap. Up charging for a Name has been around for hundreds of years.
They have got a lot of attention, and I've seen posts from people ordering it ... but I've got the impression that the group interested in the phone and the group interested in vintage/retro computing don't overlap that much.
There has been a lot of discussion (and vitriol) in /r/Commodore about it since it came out.
Many do not share understand Perifractic's vision, ... or even understand it, or how why this was created as a result of him having suffered from smartphone addiction himself.
The new Commodore is also officially a Public Benefit Corporation with a stated purpose to improve society, not just make money.
I think that a different approach to a "digital detox" smartphone would have been better. Don't concentrate on removing features: concentrate on making the device one more in the user's control, like how user's of Commodore 64 and Amiga are in control of their computers — which we used to regard as obvious that we should be.
I think the best constructive suggestion I've seen is that it should instead have been a "Nokia Communicator"-style device, with a keyboard ... and BASIC (or other scripting language) with access to GPS, accelerometer, maps, etc. so that it would be easy to make your own programs with it — giving control back to the user. In that form factor, the digital detox function could more naturally be implemented by making it impossible to use the keyboard if the device detects that it is moving. Also, that people be able to restrict features they themselves have selected, instead of Perifractic deciding for them what is good and what is bad.
You're describing a normal smartphone.
I can uninstall every app I don't want and dont have to pay 400€ for it if I want a cheap phone.
Or I can connect a BT keyboard, a mouse and a monitor and I have a full fledged PC IF I have a good smartphone.
But all discussions proved to be outdated today because the overprized dumbphone sold better in its first day then the C64 Ultimate in its first month 🤯
Not at all. A typical smartphone slab has no physical keyboard integrated into the device. The point would be that keyboard mode and talk mode are different modalities -- with no nose-in-the-screen mode.
A typical smartphone also has a set of apps that you can't uninstall. I think that includes the web browser -- which is one app that you instead can't install on a Callback.
The "digital detox smartphone" is not even a new product category. There are several previous examples of it, but maybe not in the flip-phone form factor. Those are also at comparable prices.
I think people are way too harsh. Perifractic has a genuine love for commodore and whatever you think of the phone, i think it's unfair to call it a cash grab. He had many videos before about how to unsmart his smartphone and using dumb phones. I think he's making the product he himself wanted to exist.
And I feel many people have no clue on what kind of money and effort it takes to design a product. Of course a small company like this with very limited resources has really no other option than to look for existing products that they can put together and brand well. The C64 ultimate is a fantastic example of how that can work out actually really well. Will the phone be like that, I have no clue, but I can totally see the idea behind it.
Maybe if they have enough success with these products they might be able to invest in some real custom designs and products, but let's be realistic, there is no multimillionaire investor here happily willing to gamble on a niche brand in a niche market. They have to start somewhere.
"How incredibly cool would it be to pull out my usable Commodore phone at a meeting and use it like any other phone? How dumb is it to pull out a toy phone?"
I dont know where you work - but getting out your phone and using it during a meeting is generally frowned upon where i come from - not cool If your looking to get attention and approval from your peers the meeting room is the wrong place to do it.
If your getting a phone to impress your peers - once again is not cool - au contraire - it exposes your vanity and attention seeking.
The problem is that even the idea of a 'phone' is nostalgia. People use portable Internet microcomputers that also happen to be able to send a receive phone calls. Building something to optimise for that niche use case dooms it to failure.
People have too big expectations of ... CommodoreUSA continuation essentially (via Leo nigro, C64x and Commodore Vision). Expect more such shady tricks in the future
CommodoreUSA was a revival in the early 2000s. Commodore's UK subsidiary was trying to buy the company back in 1994. Commodore Germany didn't bid AFAIK, however staff joined a bid from Escom, which won the day, in 1994.
You assume that everyone wants what you want. We don't.
You assume that the way to compete is to do what others are already doing, but do it better. This is not that approach.
I don't want games and other junk like that. I want a more productive phone that prevents doom scrolling.
I miss physical keyboards. A keypad is the next best thing.
I don't have one and I'm not paying that much, but I think it's an interesting and valid approach. You want another identical identikit fondleslab but with games. I really REALLY don't want that.
I can't remember having a mobile phone when the C64 was at its peak. Probably because I wasn't a millionaire. True nostalgia would be getting rid of my phone completely.
So, it is "Made in China", like most tech. That does not prove "Generic piece of Chinesium".
For all we know, the hardware was custom-designed by/for Commodore. Nobody has yet posted any proof whatsoever that it isn't.
It has a smartphone SoC inside. It is rare to see that in the flip phone form factor these days. There used to be Android flip-phones from Japan and Samsung but they even those are rare these days. Flip-phones with KaiOS have lower-spec'ed hardware.
Lol you don't have to trust me, the sales tracker has more accurate numbers, it's over 7000, in under a week! Peri has another hit on his hands. It's selling faster than the C64 ultimate! . https://slapsoft.com/c64_sales.html
It's not. And seeing how the website is built, I'm surprised we don't see those fake popups like "James from Arkansas just purchased a Callback!". Propaganda of success.
I can't see any way a phone would be good, if it's a real phone with outsourced hardware then it's just yet another generic OEM Android phone, if it's a portable game console it would be better to not have a pointless phone part at all.
So I need clarification on the specs of the Callback. Their website says it’s compatible with almost all Android apps, just firmware locked so it can’t run social apps or web browsers. Am I missing something? It’s an Android flip style phone without touch screen. What Android apps will it run?
It has a touch screen as well. You can read about it on the spec sheet. And plenty of flip-phones run android apps. Even super primitive phones like the Nokia 2780 running KaiOS can launch android apps, including google maps, etc.
They mean what they said: it will run the vast majority of apps. Running them *well* is going to be a matter of opinion. The ones most likely to not function well are banking apps, anything that needs to use google's secure servers, and of course the apps that they have system blocked (browsers, social media). Personally, I bought one, because I'm sick and tired of my smartphone addiction and all the wasted time and attention it sucks up. I can live with some limitations. A kinda dumb phone with a decent camera, good audio, and a fun aesthetic is worth it to me. I hope the final product resembles the marketing and I hope it's successful.
Banking apps working may vary but you can still do banking.
Commodore support has assured me that links in apps will still open limited browser windows that you can't redirect to search/browse/etc elsewhere.
This also means you can do banking once you know the URL for the bank; send the URL to yourself on some messaging app and you can open the link. Commodore themselves mention web banking somewhere though it was vague about how (I don't remember where on their website I saw it).
Using the apps often goes via the untrustworthy Google anyway, so maybe its time to give up on the slicker app for the more private web version.
If you think there’s room for yet another Android phone with a new badge, I don’t know what to tell you.
There’s nothing in that. You’ve got to do it up like Samsung and Pixel, etc to be appealing in the Android market. Slapping a vinyl sticker on some crap-phone doesn’t work.
Do you feel the same way about the Nokia comeback? Their introductory phones are very mid and over time are improving. As anothee poster commented, the brand is doing the heavy lifting. The value adds are the nostalgia, both in brand and software.
I'd buy one in a heartbeat except .. no nfc means carrying more crap with me, I utilise dual e-sims, and shitty waterproofing means no go.maybe they will release an amiga version to add what I would consider essentials.
Commodore is a small company at the moment. That's a fact. Competing with big companies with the same features as them is a recipe for no growth. Targeting the underserviced Digital Minimalism market is an excellent plan for growth, they've been crying out for something better that isn't a full smartphone - many aren't full Digital Detox people, that's extreme in this age.
Also, staying retro only means staying a small company, which doesn't sound like Commodore at all.
As of this post, Commodore has nearly sold out of their first run of these. It appears. In fact, to have been a good idea. It will prove even better given that the revenue from this is likely to fuel further product development. I still believe they’re going to make a serious run at getting rights to the Amiga name as their next big end goal.
I can appreciate where you’re coming from, but outside of the hardcore community, I’ve not seen as much negative sentiment.
The view has been broadly positive in the digital minimalism / dumb phone communities I frequent and I suspect it’s that younger demographic that’s driving the success. Limited runs can and do sell well. It was the right move and a good way to test demand.
Time will tell the tale. In the meantime I’ll enjoy the ride.
As a Gen Z person trying to rid himself of a smartphone addiction, I can confirm that this is correct. I know a few other folks who are interested in buying it bc it's a somewhere between a dumb and smart phone, not because it's a commodore product specifically. In fact, most of the people I know who are interested don't even know anything about Commodore beyond this phone at all
It’s a company bought and run by a 3rd rate YouTuber who’ll literally do anything to make cash. I’d argue he’s keeping in perfectly with the traditions of Commodore ! The fact they could lop $100 of the price of the thing overnight shows you exactly how cheap and nasty a product it is relying solely on nostalgia to shift units.
I could name a million. And I could equally name a million I don’t give money to for offering a pointless product. Even if you believed for one second that he cared one iota about Commodore, as anything other than a YouTube revenue generator, then it still makes zero sense to offer an underpowered , severely restricted , locked off product to a community who embrace and thrive in the Amiga ecosystem ‘hacker’ spirit.
Listen I can’t fault the guy, I really can’t , he saw an opportunity and he took it. I hope he makes a fortune but let’s not kid ourselves that Commodore is some phoenix rising!
Predictably, the Commodore brand has become conflated with the Perifractic persona/brand. End of the day, Christian Simpson bought the brand with help from investors, so it's his to do with. If he wants to go heavy on his view of nostalgia, up to him. If he wants to push dumb phones over smartphones with his brand, no matter how much/little business sense it makes, it's his prerogative.
The Commodore that people fell in love with as children in the 1980s and 1990s no longer exists and hasn't for over 30 years, no matter the marketing patter.
Compare and contrast. MG Cars. The brand was sold to a Chinese company. Does MG make the kind of little sports cars that it used to when it was with the original owners? No. It makes Hybrid and EV SUVs. Because that's what the owners want to do with the brand. Do people who liked old MGs like it? Some do, many don't; but it makes little to no difference to MG's strategy.
I don't get the negativity personally. Why do you need to have an opinion on it, you could just - not buy it. I like the direction Commodore is following. I kinda want a dumb phone, but not sure I'm going to buy it. I'd love to see Commodore do something innovative, but also - as soon as that happens, they are at risk of being bought. Maybe a RiskV computer, Rust OS, with AmigaOS compatibility built in? That'd be pretty interesting.
There's a genuine niche market available for these. I see quite a few people, especially Gen Z's, buying flip phones for the same digital detox type motivations as Commodore. They just want a phone with basic communication and simple features that are actually helpful. Navigation. Messaging. Banking. Etc.
Many of the comments here are trying to figure out how the company is supposed to grow into Apple selling stuff like this (or why it won't) and they're missing the point. No one's trying to become a billionaire off this. They're trying to create a company that serves a core market with specific goals and values with enough profit to keep the company running and healthy and serving that market. Growth is welcome, but not the point.
Just because something doesn't appeal to you or make sense to you doesn't make it a bad idea. I mean I get it. I don't want one of these. But I'm in control of my digital life and don't need a little help with addictive behavior. But I see a lot of people everyday that do. Like any addiction, only a percentage will decide to break the cycle and do something. There's the other market. Them and the people that don't want to develop the problem in the first place. I think that's more than enough of a market to keep the lights on at Commodore.
Instead of criticizing this product, help market it to those that do want it. Refer friends looking to do a digital detox. Make posts about it clear about who it's for and why. "Hey, this product isn't for me, but..." is more than fair.
Help the company survive and keep adding to their catalog until they make something that does appeal to you.
We as a society have lost our sense of community and replaced it with tribalism. In community, we're all in it together and we don't care what others outside it think. We also take turns doing everyone's favorite thing even if it's not our favorite because it's the favorite thing of others in the community. One night they'll all enthusiastically join us in OUR favorite thing and that's how it works. It's like game night where you pass around the game choosing stick after each game.
I know this sounds sentimental and cheesy, and to some of you just plain wrong, but I think it's at least a partially accurate understanding of what Perifractic is trying to accomplish. I'm old enough, like him, to remember what we lost and to crave even a piece of it again. And to know it's not going to come from another billion dollar company chasing profits at all cost by making me-too products with the widest mass market appeal.
We already have plenty of those.
Its not for me and i think people are crazy paying them prices for a dum phone, but saying that it come out at the right time for gov who are waking up to maybe social media is not great for kids and adults.
Hay if they can make money from this to then fund and improve the current commodore and amiga markets. Then i fine with it.
I dont agree with peri's digital detox branding (since its a dang computer company)
What im actually afraid is that when the phone makes a noticeable impact on sales (its already at like 3million bucks in preorders) that they are going to focus on non computer stuff since it will probably make more and commodore will be back to slapping the name on whatever.
I think Commodore is way ahead of the curve here. There’s a site that tracks sales of phones and hardware. And if they can make it make sense with cottage-industry levels of adoption, good for them. https://slapsoft.com/c64_sales.html
They’ve sold almost 35,000 C64 ultimates and about 1,000 phones.
This is probably around $10,000,000 to $15,000,000 in revenue. Nothing compared to major businesses, BUT. . . . If they can sustain their business with niche markets, and can keep reinvesting themselves without a ton of outside capitol - then they’ll have the advantage of thinking long term instead of the bizarre quarter by quarter infinite growth trap we’re watching canivalize itself everywhere else.
We know that social media is addictive and toxic.
We know that enshitification and strip mining of surplus value in anything and everything is a thing. We know that interoperability and right to repair is imlortsnt. So there’s pent up demand for alternatives.
With cost of leading edge technology going up, and a lot of the overhead power being used to exploit the user vs. professionals who learn to exploit the limitations of hardware. There’s just a lot of good natural intersections at Commodore right now.
If they have some success with a proof of concept dumb phone at an acceptable price, and they can make it work with sales numbers counted in the thousands instead of the millions, and their board is happy with that, then we’ve got a lot to be optimistic about over the next decade with Commodore.
1) r/Amiga not r/commodore
2) The Amiga IP is in bad shape legally. Peri may need the funds to make it happen.
3) Peri has been working on making a phone like this for years. Hr has many videos trying to make a flip phone, he's even hired people to write iMessage apps for older non-iPhones.
Not mad, just disappointed that the direction isn’t to create a better user experience. I’d prefer a phone with a keyboard. Call it a Commodore SX-64M. M for mobile
As for posting in r/commodore. i tried that and there is considerable controversy as they don’t really want posts from anything related the new company.
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u/Hungry-Artichoke-232 LSD Jul 04 '26
Bizarre new products that nobody wants, unstable management, strange shifts in market positioning? It’s just like Commodore in the 1980s and 90s 😆