The history of Commodore as an international company ended in 1994, but on more than one occasion attempts were made to obtain the rights to the "Commodore brand" with the aim of launching new products. Now, two Italian entrepreneurs seek to revive the spirit of this historic name through the smartphone Commodore PET, an Android-based smartphone with an octa-core SoC inside, and a 5.5-inch screen.
When Commodore International went bankrupt in 1994, the surviving assets passed from hand to hand like a hot potato. In December 2013, it was determined that the rights to the "Commodore brand" belong to Commodore Holdings B.V., a Dutch company that hasn't updated its website since then. Some of our readers probably remember the adventure of Commodore International, which launched variants such as the Commodore 64x, based on Intel hardware. The saga of Commodore USA ended with the death of its main man, Barry Altman, who, by the way, had his share of incidents with the specialized press. Commodore reappeared on the radar thanks to Massimo Canigiani and Carlo Scattolini, two Italian entrepreneurs who registered Commodore Business Machines Limited in the United Kingdom, having obtained (according to them) the rights to the brand in more than thirty countries.
What will be its flagship product? None other than a smartphone, the Commodore PET. A 5.5-inch screen with 1080p resolution, an octa-core MediaTek SoC at 1.7 GHz, 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage (there will be another model with 3 and 32 GB), a main camera with a 13-megapixel Sony sensor, an 8-megapixel secondary camera, dual SIM, 4G support, a microSD slot, a 3,000 mAh battery, and Android Lollipop define its general specifications. As expected, the Commodore PET will have preinstalled two special versions of C64 and Amiga emulators, thus guaranteeing the execution of multiple classics that deserve to be preserved regardless of the format or the hardware behind them.
The regular model of the Commodore PET, with 2 GB and 16 GB internal, will have an approximate price of $300, while the higher edition of 3 GB and 32 GB internal will cost about $65 extra. In both cases, the smartphones will be delivered with a 32 GB microSD card, and there will be a variety of colors, including the classic beige of old computers. Its initial launch will be limited to Germany, Italy, Poland, and France, but if all goes well, it will surely expand to other markets, and it might even cross the Atlantic.
