The Amiga 500, also known as the A500 (or its code name 'Rock Lobster'), was the first "low-end" Commodore Amiga 16/32-bit multimedia home/personal computer. It was announced at the winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1987, at the same time as the high-end Amiga 2000, and competed directly against the Atari 520ST. Before A500 was shipped Commodore suggested that the list price of the A500 was 595.95 USD without a monitor. At delivery in 1987, Commodore announced that the Amiga 500 would carry a 699 USD list price.

The Amiga 500 represented a return to Commodore's roots, being sold in the same mass retail outlets as the Commodore 64 to which it was a spiritual successor, as opposed to the computer store-only Amiga 1000.

The original A500 proved to be Commodore’s best-selling Amiga model, enjoying particular success in Europe. Although popular with hobbyists, arguably its most widespread use was as a gaming machine, where its advanced graphics and sound for the time were of significant benefit.

Source: Wikipedia, "Amiga 500", available under the CC-BY-SA License.