Apple Computer has launched what promises to be one of the most
expensive ad campaigns in history for a product which promises to
make or break the company's fortunes. But even conservative
odds-makers are betting the MacIntosh computer will indeed, grab
the imaginations and pocketbooks of America's computer-buying
public. The Mac sells for $2500, comes with 128K of internal
memory, a hi-res 9" monochrome screen and one 3 1/2" disk drive,
but its claim to fame rests with its "windows" which can display
several programs simultaneously, and its "mouse", a Lisa-like
device which bypasses the keyboard, enabling the user to "point"
to functions desired on a graphically-illustrated menu. "MacWrite",
a word processing program, and "MacPaint", a graphics program will
initially be available, although some 80 companies are developing
MacIntosh software. Mac does not run Apple II or IIe software, but
does run software developed for the Lisa. At this writing the
product had not been officially announced and information here comes
from "insiders".
----
CONTACT: APPLE COMPUTER
CUPERTINO, CA.
408-973-2042
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[***][1/24/84][***]
MACINTOSH'S LEGACY:
..is starting with a publication called "MacWorld" from PC Communications.
The magazine is expected to be announced next week and will include
articles on the development and applications of the MacIntosh. The
magazine will cost $4 an issue and debut on January 31.
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CONTACT: PC WORLD COMMUNICATIONS
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.
415-861-3861
----
[***][1/24/84][***]
TO IBM OR NOT TO IBM:
Whether the "Mac" grabs a significant share of IBM's lead in sales of
computers remains to be seen. Most analysts are saying the Mac will
become the computer of choice in schools and homes, but the IBM PC
will remain the business standard. Future Computing predicts that
by 1989, IBM will account for 71% of all business computers sold
and 64% of all computers used at home. This year IBM is expected
to surpass Apple in the numbers of all computers sold. (There may
be a wrinkle in this picture, however--check item #5 below.) IBM will
make further headway, say the analysts, when it announces a battery-
operated PC in the near future. Apple, meanwhile, is bowing to
pressure and early this year, is expected to announce a disk drive for
the Apple II and IIe which will run IBM programs. Coleco is reportedly
working on a plug-in expansion module for its Adam Computer that will
make it IBM-compatible.
----
CONTACT: FUTURE COMPUTING, INC.
RICHARDSON, TEXAS
214-783-9375
----
[***][1/24/84][***]
A NEW INDUSTRY STANDARD?
UNIX, an operating system developed by Bell Labs and in extensive
use by Fortune 500 company mainframes, has been licensed by IBM
for use in its PC line of computers by April. The announcement
upstages AT&T's expected Fall, 1984 introduction of its own line of
UNIX-operated personal computers, a field the company has been
allowed to entered thanks to the AT&T divestiture of January 1.
The main advantage to UNIX is that it not only permits operation
by multiple users, but is considered more powerful and sophisticated
than all current operating systems. AT&T meanwhile, has arranged with
Digital Research, Inc. to develop an entire library of UNIX programs
that will be available by late Fall.
----
CONTACT: AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH
WASHINGTON, D.C.
202-296-5507
----
[***][1/24/84][***]
A WRINKLE IN IBM'S FUTURE?
1.2 million shares of IBM stock changed hands last week as the company
dropped a bombshell on its major supplier of hard disk drives for the PC.
IBM told Miniscribe that it wouldn't need as many hard drives as it
had requested this year, touching off more panic-selling among Miniscribe's
shareholders. IBM says the contract cut is not because of slowing demand
for PC hard drives, but because the company has switched some of its
allegiance to other drive manufacturers. Just who got the business
isn't certain. One thing is certain: it's not Seagate Technologies
because IBM orders were curtailed there too.
----
CONTACT: MINISCRIBE
LONGMONT, COLORADO
303-651-6000
----
SEAGATE TECHNOLOGIES
SCOTTS VALLEY, CA.
408-438-6550
----
[***][1/24/84][***]
DISKETTES DITCHED:
Somebody, nobody's sure who, has dropped a major contract with
Verbatim, manufacturer of floppy diskettes, and left the company
holding the bag. Verbatim laid off 300 workers (15% of its workforce)
and announced profits were down 25 percent last week. "Our order rate is less
than anticipated," said a company spokesman. One analyst thinks
IBM is to blame for the return of $2 million worth of diskettes to
the company this month, the return due to packaging errors, not
quality control. Verbatim attributes its problems to overstaffing
and fast expansion.
----
CONTACT: VERBATIM CORPORATION
SUNNYVALE, CA.
408-245-4400
----
[***][1/24/84][***]
ANOTHER HAT IN THE RING:
Sir Clive Sinclair, chairman of the company which bears his name,
is promising to make a $550 personal computer available in the U.S.
by mid-year. Sinclair promises the "QL", which stands for "quantum
leap" will outperform the IBM PC and the Apple IIe and sell more than
1-million units. Sinclair already makes the ZX81 and Spectrum computers
which have indeed, sold a million units in the U.S.
----
CONTACT: SINCLAIR RESEARCH LTD.
LONDON, ENGLAND
----
[***][1/24/84][***]
PINPOINTING THE PROBLEM:
Why have buyers switched to IBM PC's and away from Apples? That's
just one of the questions Dataquest, a subsidiary of the A.C. Nielsen
company, wants to answer with a new, sweeping industry survey of
computer owners. The in-depth study will trace what people are
doing with their personal computers and their future buying plans,
according to Alex Stein, a Dataquest analyst. Already the pollsters
say they've discovered that 85% of computer owners are using spreadsheet
programs but complete results of the study won't be out for another
week.
----
CONTACT: ALEX STEIN
DATAQUEST
SAN JOSE, CA.
408-971-9000
----
[***][1/24/84][***]
DIVIDE AND CONQUER:
By February, there will be two separate communications networks in the
federal government, one for research and the other for defense. People
at NASA, for instance, who use ARPANET, the research arm, have already
been struggling with new passwords and log-on procedures. The new
name of this system is RDNET, the military side will be MILNET. Pentagon
spokespeople deny the move had anything to do with intrusion by hackers
lately, adding the changes were planned well before the break-ins.
19-year old Mark Austin, meanwhile, is free on $2,000 bail pending
a preliminary hearing February 21. He has been charged with 14
counts of illegally gaining access to a computer system, which is a
felony punishable by fines of up to $5,000 and/or three years in prison for
each count.
----
CONTACT: U.S. ARMY COLONEL HEIDI HEIDEN, DIR.
DEFENSE COMMUNICATIONS AGENCY
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA
703-692-2788
----
[***][1/24/84][***]
NO MORE FEATHERS AND QUILLS:
The Royal household at Buckingham Palace is considering a computer
link-up to each of the royal residences, according to the London Times.
"We are not sitting here with feather quills and leather ledgers,"
said a Buckingham Palace official. Queen Elizabeth recieved several
gifts of computers when she toured California last year, but a Palace spokesman would not confirm if those gifts, including one from Hewlett-Packard, would be used to computerize the Queen and Co.
