home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Newsbytes - Internationa…ews 1983 May to 1994 June
/
Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1994 Edition - May 1983 - June 1994 - Wayzata Technologies (5045) (1994).iso
/
mac
/
Text
/
Mac Text
/
1984
/
V44
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1991-10-04
|
9KB
|
188 lines
[***][3/27/84][***]
COLECO VISIONS DIMMING?
More ominous news from Coleco. 1300 more workers involved in the
manufacture of the Adam computer got their walking papers this week.
While the company calls the layoff "seasonal" (they also called a
layoff of 100 other workers "seasonal" in early March), others aren't
so sure. Coleco is laboring under a $35 million fourth quarter loss
in 1983 and some analysts are already relegating the company to the
computer industry death list. Analyst Tony Hoffman of Cralin & Co.
told USA TODAY, "It's another Mattel. We'll see how long it takes
the corpse to stop twitching." Meanwhile, what's this about 20 top
officers from Coleco selling their stock four days after the $35 million
loss was announced? A company official says it has nothing to do
with the company's financial health. Altogether the stock sale
amounts to one-quarter of all individuals' stock holdings in Coleco.
----
CONTACT: COLECO
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT
203-278-0280
----
[***][3/27/84][***]
AT&T MUSCLES IN:
James Olson, Vice Chairman of AT&T says his company plans to be "more
than just another player on an already crowded playing field." And
with that, six computers ranging from a desktop machine ($9950) to a
mainframe ($340,000) were announced. Only a select group of analysts
have seen these machines, dubbed the "3-B" series (for "third generation")
The announcement was made in a press teleconference which
reached San Francisco, Chicago and Washington. AT&T plans to bring
the computers into the public eye at Comdex Winter '84 in Los Angeles
this month. The newly reorganized company plans to support its
promises with 2000 service representatives nationwide. The "3B" series
will run on the Unix operating system developed by Bell Labs. Dataquest
analyst Ken Lim says this isn't all AT&T has up its sleeve. Look for
an AT&T home computer priced under $500 as early as next month, with a
desktop model at $2000 this summer.
----
CONTACT: AT&T
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
212-393-1000
----
[***][3/27/84][***]
PORTABLES ON THE MARCH:
Look for portable computers to become the biggest sellers by year's end.
That's the conclusion of several industry analysts who say practically
every computer company is working on a lap sized portable. Apple is
expected to unveil its own, rumored to be called the "Apple IIc", at a
dealers meeting later this month. Scott Mace of "InfoWorld" says he's
heard Apple's portable will be a $900 version of the IIe with one disk
drive and an optional LCD screen (and Scott is a reliable source).
Speaking of LCD screens, the technology is expected to be available this
fall for full-sized LCD displays, not just the 2-4 line displays on
current portables such as the Gavilan.
----
CONTACT: ALEX STEIN, DATAQUEST
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA
408-971-9000
----
[***][3/27/84][***]
IBM STILL LEADING:
The Yankee Group, yet another industry analyst, is projecting IBM PCs
will continue to outsell Apple computers and by the end of this year
the gap will have widened into a chasm. Currently IBM holds 22.5% of
the personal computer market, Apple holds 19.6%, but by year's end
IBM will hold 31.6% and Apple 18.9%. Let's not misinterpret these
projections, though. The entire computer marketplace is expanding,
the overall pie is getting bigger. Apple, for one, has few worries.
Possibly the only concern is whether it can deliver on the huge demand
for its immensely popular MacIntosh. Macs are in such demand that
dealers are reporting hundreds on back order. The Mac assembly plant
in Fremont will be completed in a few weeks and a Mac is expected to
be produced every 27 seconds. Apple IIe sales are also going swimmingly,
many buyers who waited to see the PCjr are settling for IIe computers.
----
CONTACT: THE YANKEE GROUP
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
617-542-0100
----
[***][3/27/84][***]
ACT II:
Applied Computer Techniques, the company which came to the rescue of
Victor Technologies recently, starts marketing its "Apricot" computer
in the U.S. this month. The company believes the 16-bit portable won't
be in competition with Victor products. Meanwhile, ACT is working
out the final details of the Victor takeover. Chuck Peddle, founder
of Victor (and developer of the VIC 20 and Commodore PET computers)
is putting the finishing touches on his revamped "Victor PC Plus",
an IBM-compatible computer that got lost in the financial shuffle last
year. ACT is expected to market the product.
----
CONTACT: APPLIED COMPUTER TECHNIQUES
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA
408-727-8090
----
[***][3/27/84][***]
PERFECT DEAL:
My inside sources say Thorne/EMI will sign papers with Perfect Software on
April 10. Thorne/EMI has been courting the financially troubled software
company, offering it somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 million.
Perfect has virtually no material assets, just a good public name but
a slightly tarnished private reputation for slow or non-existent
deliveries on phantom products for certain computer clients.
----
CONTACT: PERFECT SOFTWARE
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA
415-527-2626
----
[***][3/27/84][***]
THE RAT IS OUT OF THE BAG:
Pizza Time Theaters, the pizza-and-video-arcade parlors started by
Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, applied for bankruptcy protection last
week, the final solution to a mountain of unpaid debts and lawsuits.
No fewer than 5,000 creditors are owed money by Pizza Time which lost
$57 million last year. Pizza Time, which features the "Chuck E. Cheese"
rat mascot, has closed another 7 outlets. That leaves 127 company
owned theaters and 116 franchises still operating. Meanwhile, the
company is said to be getting an offer from Bally Manufacturing, which
wants to buy Sente Technologies, the spin-off coin-operated video game
business also started by Bushnell. The $3.9 million offer must be
approved by the bankruptcy court.
----
CONTACT: PIZZA TIME THEATERS
SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA
408-734-8731
----
[***][3/27/84][***]
NEW SURVEY:
One third of the people polled in a new survey by Talmis, a marketing
research firm, say they find their home computers frustrating and
difficult to use. 1,000 people who own computers were interviewed
by the Chicago company. A majority of those responding said their
machines were interesting or helpful, but the large numbers of those
who didn't have brought researchers to the conclusion the software
and hardware is still not "user-friendly" enough to satisfy a
majority of Americans. Ten percent of those polled called their
computers "useless."
----
CONTACT: TALMIS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
312-329-9811
----
[***][3/27/84][***]
MAYDAY!
That's the name of a new service offered by a company that's convinced
there's money to be made from confusion. Teletech Service Corporation
is offering a $200 deal that will provide you with 120 minutes of
consultation via telephone and a "how-to" guide to problems with your
computer. The firm claims to have experts on 300 software programs,
all of them available at the push of a touch-tone phone. Intersol of
Braintree, Massachusetts offered a similar service last month, that
comes with a higher fee ($300) but includes answers to hardware problems
as well as software dilemmas.
----
CONTACT: TELETECH SERVICE CORPORATION
AVON, MASSACHUSETTS
617-584-3671
----
[***][3/27/84][***]
THE FICKLE FATES:
California Technology Stock Letter, a stock and investment watcher for
the hi tech/computer industry, did an abrupt about-face last week.
CTSL, under the director of Jim McCamant and Michael Murphy has been
backing Pizza Time, Phone-Mate, Omnimedical and Geophysical Systems
as great stock investments for over a year. They aren't anymore.
Says McCamant, "We're going to be more brutal." The analysts had
been banking hopes that falling fortunes for these companies were mere
gliches in an otherwise rosy forecast, but at this point, the pair
plan to be far more wary of "early warnings" like too fast growth and
introduction of products that aren't ready to be shipped by computer
and hi tech firms.
----
CONTACT: MICHAEL MURPHY
CALIFORNIA TECHNOLOGY STOCK LETTER
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
415-982-0125
----
[***][3/27/84][***]
IN BRIEF..
OLIVETTI of Italy introduced 2 new personal computers--the M21
transportable and the M24 desktop. One source says AT&T will be its
U.S. distributor. --TYMSHARE is cleared to tie the knot with MCDONNELL
DOUGLAS. M.D. plans to obtain 90-percent of the company's outstanding
shares. --CITICORP says it wants to be the world's most technologically
advanced bank. To prove it, the company is putting up $500 million to
develop more sophisticated satellite, ATM, homebanking and mainframe
systems to deliver money services to consumers.
----