Changes
The magazine was widely available throughout Australia and New Zealand from 1985 through to the end of 1990. It was also available to the general oceania region - nearby countries such as New Caledonia, Brunei, French Polynesia, Indonesia, Kiribati, Malaysia, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Singapore, Tonga, Tokelau, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands - although on a more limited and not as timely basis. It was a reasonable sized magazine. Early issues being around 32 pages, with the magazine peaking at 72 pages. Most issues though, were 64 pages.
Strategy Publications also had a physical shop, in which you could walk in and buy back issues of the magazine, software, hardware etc. Advertising for The Amstrad User was also supplied with Amstrad models purchased in Australia which mentioned that The Amstrad User was Australia's best selling magazine packed with reviews, programs, hints and user group information. A separate page had a subscription purchase slip read ready to go for you.
<gallery caption="TAU paperwork that came with Amstrad purchase">
'''1991 - Magazine overhaul'''
After [http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/The_Amstrad_User_-_Issue_71_(_Dec._90_) issue 71 (Dec 1990)], it The Amstrad User became known as '''The PC Mag plus The Amstrad User''' with [http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/The_PC_Mag_%2B_The_Amstrad_User_-_Jan_1991 January 1991] being the first issue @ $4.50 per magazine (issues were no longer numbered). It still contained Amstrad CPC/PCW/PC content and was obviously trying to appeal to the broader PC clone market (IBM Compatible owners) - rather than specifically just the Amstrad. This was a hard decision the Editor said [http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:TAU_71Page2.JPG here in Issue 71] - Amstrad Australia in Sydney had dropped the CPC range (along with the PCW8512) by 1989 and was refusing to import them (including the CPC plus range - which had the effect of the general Oceania region missing out on the CPC Plus range) or support them - even though the parent company in the UK had pulled the plug on the CPC range, they were still releasing CPC Plus models. Amstrad Australia decided instead to concentrate on the PC compatibles market. It was a simple case of mathematics - rapidly declining CPC market and a rapidly increasing PC Clone/Compatible market. For the magazine, this was reflected by the change in the message seen at the top of the magazine - it started out as "The magazine for PC Beginners" and eventually changed into "For Amstrad, IBM and other PC Compatibles beginners" - although, there was content that was not necessarily only for beginners.
The magazine started out at 64 pages and eventually became 48 pages. Amstrad content was approximately 20 pages and this was a mix of CPC & PCW content - so it was obvious that CPC content was a lot smaller than it used to be. CPC content continued to shrink over time. The magazine ran until [http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/The_PC_Mag_%2B_The_Amstrad_User_-_Sep_1991 September 1991] (9 issues in total) with Strategy Publications ceasing to produce the magazine around then due to obviously declining magazine sales, declining Amstrad software/hardware suppliers, declining advertising revenue and of course the declining popularity of Amstrad machines coupled with the rise of other PC compatibles (and other magazines). It is unknown if Strategy Publications completely ceased operations, changed their name or merged with another publisher.
