Apple Developer News

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As part of the contract announced today, NatSteel will acquire all of Apple's local circuit board equipment, which will increase NatSteel Electronics' manufacturing capacity and create approximately 400 new jobs.

According to Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Operations, Jim McCluney, the agreement with NatSteel Electronics is a major step forward in Apple's strategy of focusing its operational efforts closer to its customers. "As we announced last month, we are evolving our Singapore manufacturing site into a regional operations hub for Asia Pacific. This change enhances Apple's competitiveness and flexibility in servicing our customers in the region, encompassing Asia, Australia, and Japan," he said.

Last year the company's president, Jeffrey E. McKenzie, made a sales call to Turner's Outdoorsman, a 14-store retailer in southern California specializing in the sale of guns, fishing equipment, and outdoor sporting goods. He was informed that the store was shopping for a new system, and it had just hired an ex-IBM-mainframe person to head up its MIS department. Under these circumstances, the chances of influencing the store's decision seemed slim, but McKenzie followed up by filling out the store's requirements analysis spreadsheet and calling the company's MIS director. He then invited the MIS director to one of his installations. The director was impressed with all that he was able to do with Macintosh computers: McKenzie showed him multiple sites running point-of-sale, inventory, purchasing, and communications software in a client/server environment.

A little over a year later, after many demos to employees and owners, Systems Optima was awarded the contract to implement a system for Turner's Outdoorsman. The MIS director was especially impressed with the Mac OS solution's ability to track serial numbers completely from purchase, receipt, transfer, layaway, and final purchase of guns by customers. (There are some tough requirements for gun dealers to track serial numbers properly, and hefty fines are imposed if these requirements are not followed.) The new system also reduced the retailer's warehouse payroll and significantly enhanced customer service in its stores. The MIS director later confided that the Macintosh system scored the highest and that it was half the cost of the next system under consideration. Turner's Outdoorsman spent over U.S.$ 900,000 for the total system, which included over U.S.$ 350,000 in Apple Macintosh computers alone!

For more information on Systems Optima's products, see this web site:

An evaluation of both the past 6- and 12-month periods shows that MacTech's distribution has been increasing in a variety of ways. In addition to the number of subscribers growing, more copies have been bought on the newsstand. Also, there's been an increase in the number of back issues purchased, as well as the number of future issues owed to subscribers. Depending on which number you measure, the jump is 20 percent or more--which is a lot in the magazine business.

Not only have the numbers increased domestically, but they've jumped internationally as well. MacTech is now read in 64 countries, up from 52. In addition, because MacTech Japan has been so successful since it was launched as a bimonthly magazine in April 1997, that the publication is moving to a monthly schedule starting in October.

For more information on MacTech magazine, see this web site:

Choosing a Web Server, Session #32 Apple
Speaker: Carl de Cordova, Rhapsody evangelist
Date: Wednesday, August 6, 1997
Time: 1:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.
Location: World Trade Center, Cityview Room

Choosing/Using Tools for the Coolest Web Site, Session #42 Apple
Speaker: Carl de Cordova, Rhapsody evangelist
Date: Wednesday, August 6, 1997
Time: 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Location: World Trade Center, Cityview Room

The New Generation Mac, Session #47 Apple
Speaker: Peter Lowe, product line manager for Mac OS 8
Date: Wednesday, August 6, 1997
Time: 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Location: Bayside Expo Center, Room E

Macs in Science and Technology, Session #86 Apple
Speaker: Scott Jenkins, Ph.D., marketing manager of Science, Engineering, and Technical (SET) Markets
Date: Thursday, August 7, 1997
Time: 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Location: World Trade Center, Waterfront/1

TCP/IP Report, Session #104 Apple
Speaker: Richard Ford, Internet and enterprise product manager
Date: Friday, August 8, 1997
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
Location: World Trade Center, Auditorium

The software is WorldScript-aware and scriptable. It also supports drag- and-drop, Balloon Help, and Apple Guide, and it's all wrapped in a convenient and intuitive interface. PowerGlot is available for U.S.$ 99, and discounts are available for multiple licenses.

For more information, see this web site: