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Newsbytes - Internationa…ews 1983 May to 1994 June
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Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1994 Edition - May 1983 - June 1994 - Wayzata Technologies (5045) (1994).iso
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1984
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1991-10-04
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[***][4/17/84][***]
APPLE II FOREVER:
That's what the invitation to Apple's newest show reads and
seeing the unveiling of the Apple IIc portable computer will be
3500 dealers, developers and reporters who've received invitations
to the Apr. 24 event at the Moscone Center in SF (including this
author). Steve Jobs and John Scully will speak. The all-day
event will also feature almost 100 exhibits. Look for my update
on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Apple's profits plunged in this year's
second quarter despite higher sales. Apple's sales amounted
to $300 million, compared to $288 million a year ago but Scully
attributes the decline in profits to heavy marketing costs (not the least
of which were the dramatic MacIntosh computer commercials).
----
CONTACT: APPLE COMPUTER
CUPERTINO, CA.
408-973-2042
----
[***][4/17/84][***]
APPLE VS. IBM:
In this prize-fight the referees seem to be members of the media
who continue to hold that IBM is winning most of the rounds. But
Jim McCamant of California Technology Stock Letter says this: "The
IBM PCjr is NOT selling well and has helped to sharply stimulate
the sales of the Apple IIe...further EVERYTHING is sold out--Apple
IIs, MacIntoshes and Lisas," according to dealers. Meanwhile IBM
is admitting PCjr sales are lower than expected--the Wall Street
Journal saying that consumers find it too expensive and difficult
to work with. All this, of course, means Apple is doing very well
in the ring and further, both Apple and IBM are each shipping
approximately 1.2 million machines each year. IBM is said to hold
20-percent of the market; Apple holds 18-percent. (Almost too
close to call!)
----
[***][4/17/84][***]
MAC-UPDATE:
While the new baby is being born, the one that's just 100 days old
is thriving quite nicely. The MacIntosh is rolling off the assembly
line at the rate of 2,500 per day at Apple's Fremont Plant.
Apple's goal of selling 50,000 computers within the first 100 days
came on the 74th day after the MacIntosh unveiling.
Sales are brisk--the waiting time is down to 3 weeks at most outlets
although Mac buyers still have to wait a few more months for more
software above and beyond the 3 programs that were available in
January.
----
[***][4/17/84][***]
STEALING SOME THUNDER:
Hewlett Packard has let some reporters know about its lap-sized
portable computer which has no immediate release date scheduled.
Reportedly the 9-pound unit is not a "touchscreen" model but
will have between 500K-1,000K of built-in memory. The $3,000
machine will utilize technology developed for HP's hand-held
calculators, according to the Wall Street Journal. In other
HP news, the company announced its will build a manufacturing
plant near Peking, China. The new facility will build computers
and other electronic components. HP held its board of directors
meeting in China in September 1983.
----
CONTACT: ROY VERLEY
HEWLETT PACKARD
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA
415-857-1501
----
[***][4/17/84][***]
YET ANOTHER PORTABLE:
A lot of manufacturers seem to be eyeing Ken Lim of Dataquest's statistics.
He says the market for portables will grow an average of 116% a year
until 1988. Well, not to be left out is STM Electronics Corp. of Menlo
Park, Ca., which has introduced an IBM-compatible portable with a
huge LCD display. Given that most portables, notably Tandy's sport
tiny LCD displays, STM's offers 25 lines. Also included in the
package is a thermal printer, two 720K disk drives and a modem, all for
the price of $3449. STM also makes the "Pied Piper" computer which has
had disappointing sales figures.
----
CONTACT: LISA WILLIAMS, PRESIDENT
STM ELECTRONICS CORP.
MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA
415-326-6226
----
[***][4/17/84][***]
ATARI IN TROUBLE AGAIN:
Despite the exodus of thousands of employees, the "house cleaning" of
the company's top executives, and the appearance of new directions
and new product development, Atari once again posted a severe loss for
parent company Warner in the last quarter--losing $34.9 million.
Warner's chairman Steven Ross says Atari had "seasonal low volume"
and a glut of unsold video game cartridges remain on retail shelves.
Just one month ago, NEWSBYTES was told by Bruce Entin, Atari spokesman
that this quarter's projected loss would be less than $10 million.
----
CONTACT: BRUCE ENTIN
ATARI
SUNNYVALE, CA.
408-745-4142
----
[***][4/17/84][***]
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS UPDATE:
It's been a good 3 months for TI which is just introducing its
voice command module and is rumored to be manufacturing PCjrs for IBM.
TI increased its net income 10-fold--from $7.1 million a year ago
to $79.8 million today. The company president says the incredible
profits are due to its increase in the price of TI-made semiconductors
(basic logic chips). Perhaps this recovery is the most dramatic
turnaround in computer industry history.
----
CONTACT: J. FRED BUCY, PRESIDENT
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS
DALLAS, TEXAS
214-995-3481
----
[***][4/17/84][***]
ASSUAGING TECHNOPHOBIA:
Last year's buzzwords in the software industry included "integrated",
"windows" and the like. This year's list is most definitely headed
by "artificial intelligence" and one of the first firms to capitalize
on the term is "Microrim" which early in May will introduce "CLOUT", a
software program that relies on the tenet of "artificial intelligence"
to get the job done. For instance, a user can write a sentence for
a command instead of a pre-set series of commands. I.E. "Tell me about
the account with Dow Jones," vs. "Control-c-Control-E-Dow Jones".
The press (including this author) will be at the unveiling of the new
program in May. Stay tuned.
----
CONTACT: NORA NOLDON, PR
MICRORIM
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA.
415-922-9663
----
[***][4/17/84][***]
SOFTWARE SNAFUS:
MicroPro laid off 25 employees this week. According to management
the reason is that several projects have been abandoned. MicroPro
makes "Wordstar" which has seen a cooler reception in recent days
from the software buying public. But management contends, "This
is not a crisis." Meanwhile, in Berkeley, California,
Perfect Software's $10-million plus buy-out deal with Thorne/
EMI has fallen apart, according to inside sources. Thorne has
instead, offered to distribute certain Perfect products and has
also struck up a deal with Main Street Software in Sausalito,
California to distribute its filing software. There's no comment
from either of the last two parties on this topic.
----
CONTACT: LOU DELMONICO
THORNE/EMI
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
714-751-3778
----
[***][4/17/84][***]
DISKS AND PROGRAMS, ETC.
We all need floppies and we all need programs. Given that premise,
the marketing of trial-size programs is just starting to flower.
A San Francisco company is offering buyers of its floppies 10 new
sample programs each and every month. 10 floppies and their case
cost about $40. The programs sent to you are demonstration samples
that run a few times. If you want to buy the real program (an MS.DOS)
you then receive a coupon worth $20 toward the purchase. Sounds
good? Preview Publishing, which has instigated the offer, thinks it
will sell 20-thousand floppy packages each month.
----
CONTACT: PREVIEW PUBLISHING
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.
415-221-5033
----
[***][4/17/84][***]
IN BRIEF--
Don Hoefler's MICROELECTRONICS NEWS reports "component thefts have reached
such levels in the Valley that Intel, Signetics, Monolithic, and Advanced
Micro are pooling their security.."--TIME and NEWSWEEK are cashing in on
the demand for micro-news by offering their own publications. NEWSWEEK's
is "NEWSWEEK ACCESS" which debuts June 11. Over half a million executive
subscribers will receive a free copy. TIME's starts as two newsletters,
one for Apple, and one for IBM. --DIGITAL EQUIPMENT gives away $235-
thousand worth of equipment and software to 29 Public Broadcasting
Stations for use during fund-raising auctions. --PIZZA TIME piles up the
debts, claiming in the last quarter another $75.2 million was lost.
(Pizza Time filed for bankruptcy March 28.) A shareholder of DOCUTEL/
OLIVETTI is suing giant AT&T, claiming the giant's marketing of the
Olivetti Computer violates his company's right to market it. --SEAGATE
TECHNOLOGIES (Scotts Valley, Ca.) reports the first $100 million
sales quarter in its history. Maker of hard disk drives, Seagate
officials attribute the good times to overseas manufacturing and
productivity improvement. --COLECO INDUSTRIES may be carrying its
electronics division (where consumer reaction to the Adam Computer
have been less than disappointing) but profits margins were up last
quarter. A spokesperson attributes the increase to the popularity
of the Cabbage Patch dolls.
----