Monday, August 30th 2010
AMD Kills ATI Brand, Future Products to Feature Brand Change
This had to happen eventually, and it did just happen: AMD has dissolved the ATI brand completely, and consolidated ATI brands, such as Radeon and FirePro under the AMD main brand. Under the new branding scheme, new graphics products AMD launches (such as the upcoming Radeon HD 6000 series), will do away with "ATI" completely from the logo, marketing material, and so on, and the market will, as it already has been doing since the AMD-ATI merger, albeit informally, refer to Radeon/FirePro products as "AMD Radeon" and "AMD FirePro".
AMD explains its move as an "evolution of the AMD brand portfolio", saying that consolidation of ATI-branded products under the main brand results in reduced marketing overhead. It claims to have surveyed several thousand discrete graphics-aware users in in the U.S., U.K., Germany, China, Japan, Brazil, and Russia. The survey revealed that when made aware of ATI-AMD merger, AMD preference triples; AMD brand is stronger than ATI (against graphics competitors); and that people see Radeon and FirePro product names more conspicuous than ATI, indicating a "permission" to consolidate ATI into AMD. The survey was conducted entirely by AMD.
The company also claimed that this is the perfect time AMD could possibly consolidate ATI brand, because Radeon products are experiencing good sales, and there's high market penetration of AMD's graphics products. Finally, AMD revealed the new brand logos that are nearly identical to the present ATI logos, of course, minus the revered "ATI".
Looking ahead in the future, AMD expects its Vision branding strategy to cover a wide range of PC processor products, making it easy for consumers to choose a PC. Individual processors still carry their own logos, while Vision serves as a blanket logo to describe what the PC is capable of. AMD made it clear that existing Radeon HD 5000 series product (including the Radeon HD 5000 which are being manufactured or will be manufactured), are not affected by this change.
The transition will take place gradually. While current products aren't affected, with future product-lines (starting with Radeon HD 6000 series, and next-generation FirePro). Partners can choose between two kinds of logos (shown in the first image above), one which is more recognizable with the AMD corporate logo embedded, and one without.
Did you like this move? We're sure a lot of you enthusiasts are going to be very vocal about this move. Either comment in the discussion below, or pick an option on our frontpage poll.
AMD explains its move as an "evolution of the AMD brand portfolio", saying that consolidation of ATI-branded products under the main brand results in reduced marketing overhead. It claims to have surveyed several thousand discrete graphics-aware users in in the U.S., U.K., Germany, China, Japan, Brazil, and Russia. The survey revealed that when made aware of ATI-AMD merger, AMD preference triples; AMD brand is stronger than ATI (against graphics competitors); and that people see Radeon and FirePro product names more conspicuous than ATI, indicating a "permission" to consolidate ATI into AMD. The survey was conducted entirely by AMD.
The transition will take place gradually. While current products aren't affected, with future product-lines (starting with Radeon HD 6000 series, and next-generation FirePro). Partners can choose between two kinds of logos (shown in the first image above), one which is more recognizable with the AMD corporate logo embedded, and one without.
111 Comments on AMD Kills ATI Brand, Future Products to Feature Brand Change
I thought the thread I read yesterday was going to stay as a rumor and not actually happen...
Although the idea behind this is valid and very understandable, I'm going to miss the ATi badge on the packaging. I still refer to Radeons as ATi, not AMD...
W1zzard, will you change the logo for Radeons accordingly on GPU-Z or will you leave the current ATi logo as a tribute (or any other reason)?
Anyway, now I've got some...stuff to do...bye
*Rushes to eBay in search of the remaining ATi nerd stickers/badges for future profit*
But at the end of the day, it's still the same product inside. At least the logo looks almost identical and they're retaining the red. I would have hated to see green radeon labels :wtf:
Care amount = -12
For us enthusiasts it doesn't really matter as sticker doesn't tell us much anyway. It's a written system specs that we are looking for. Sellers also won't be confused as well as they also follow written system specs.
As for regular joe no matter how many stickers you will put they wouldn't see a difference anyway (apart from less clutter on a chasis which is good)! My friend recently bought a laptop and she didn't even know she has ATI card until i told her so!
Consider this - do you buy a system for stickers or for a content? This is not pimp my ride but a serious consideration of power to price ratio only :)
When a regular joe again is looking at all those stickers he still has to ask for assistance and i can bet my ass that he will not go for a system with more stickers on it as the only reason :)
Just yesterday I was talking about this....:laugh:
Anywho I know someone who hates AMD and Nvidia whatever will they do.....
Really I could care less as long as the performance and price are right. I'm just glad they didn't go with green.
When they bought ATI they said they had no intentions of changing the name. The obvious reason being that if ATI went down the dumper it would not damage the AMD brand.
Now that they are doing well they have no problem rebranding. Seems a little duplicitous
However, it's their money and they can do what they want.
As long as the cards continue to rock I don't care what they call them.
Just my $1.37 ( <-- that's 2 cents adjusted for inflation)
RIP
TEAMATi