Well This wasn’t up long before it was disputed, read below.
Custom PC: AMD to drop ATi brand
Chip guru AMD has announced that it’s going to drop the ATi brand name following its takeover of the Canadian graphics underdog. Gareth Cater from AMD told Custom PC that ‘the new company will be called AMD,’ meaning that we could shortly be seeing AMD-branded Radeon graphics chips.We asked Richard Baker from AMD if this meant that the memorable Radeon name would also be biting the dust, but he replied that ‘we haven’t made any final decisions yet, but I’d personally be very surprised if we dropped any of those product names. The ATi company name is definitely going, though.’
Baker stressed that, contrary to what’s been reported in the press elsewhere, the acquisition will be a takeover rather than a merger, which means that AMD is going to be wearing the trousers in its relationship. Baker said that ‘the company is being bought, so it’s fairly standard that the name should go, as it’s becoming a part of AMD.’
Chris Hook from ATi shrugged off the move, saying that ‘I don’t have a personal emotional attachment to it [the brand], one way or another. I think the important thing is that we’re going to make good products. ATi may be gone, but certainly lots of discussion is going to come over the next few days about the rest of our brands and their strengths.’ Could the next Radeon chip be AMD branded? Watch this space.
Now it’s getting curiouser and curiouser… I wonder if they are doing this to rid the image ATI had gotten of bad support and drivers.
Edit: Well it looks like they may of been misinformed or jumping to conclusions Arstechnica has this report.
AMD not eliminating ATI brand, reports falseOne of the unforeseen ramifications of the AMD-ATI hookup is the new hyper-rumor-transport bus, a new technology whereby unsubstantiated rumors become fact at an alarming rate. I lamented this sad state of affairs a few weeks ago when patently false information regarding motherboard licensing was making its way around the ‘net, and now we get to do it again.
Yesterday CustomPC claimed that AMD was going to scrap the ATI brand, inferring this in a most dubious manner. AMD’s Gareth Cater had told them that AMD would, in fact, retain its name after the buyout was finished, meaning that AMD would remain AMD for the foreseeable future. CustomPC then assumed that this would mean that ATI as a brand was going to be dropped, reported it as such. The echo-chamber did the rest. For our part, we contacted AMD public relations folks yesterday, assuming that the story was bogus.
And alas, it is. AMD is now responding to the story, saying “AMD has no plans to drop the ATi brand name or ATi’s product brands. The ATi name will live on at AMD as our leading consumer brand, and so will the Radeon brand and other ATi product brands. AMD’s executive management knows very well the power and value of branding, and ATi’s branding is some of the most valued in the global technology industry.”
The ATI brand isn’t going anywhere.
Well what they say is true… But I stand by the fact they need to revamp ATI’s image.
Tags: AMD, ATI, Interesting
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