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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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V66
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1991-10-04
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[***][9/4/84][***]
JACK SPEAKS:
Jack Tramiel of Atari issued his first public statement since taking over
Atari, and it was a dramatic one. In a written press statement, Tramiel urges
us to watch Atari become "a world leader" in the electronics world
by offering products at "rock bottom prices." In an all-out attack on Apple
and IBM, Atari will offer 8, 16 and 32-bit computers--the latter will be
priced below the Apple MacIntosh. Tramiel promises to have the machines
ready for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. Just how
he's going to do that, nobody knows. Clive Smith of the Yankee Group in
Boston believes it will be accomplished through a licensing deal with an
outside firm. There were no specifics on the new Atari computers offered
by Tramiel's press release. Atari also announced it's lowering the price
of the Atari 800XL home computer--currently priced at $300--to a price
competitive with Commodore's 64. Meanwhile, Tramiel is pressuring Atari's
former parent company Warner to pay back the company's old debts. Several
suits have been filed to collect payments. Tramiel wants $50 million cash
from Warner and SF Chronicle reporter John Eckhouse says Warner is ready
to pay to keep Tramiel quiet.
[***][9/4/84][***]
IBM GETS BULLISH:
IBM's high-end mainframe computers are on sale. Discounted 10-16 percent
are the 308X line of processors and disk drives. Sale prices amount to
$810,000 compared to $960,000. Everybody's now waiting for Honeywell,
Control Data, Sperry and Burroughs, among others to slash their mainframe
prices. Analysts say IBM started the price war because of dwindling
competition: Storage Technology and Trilogy have dropped out of the IBM-
compatible mainframe arena. Only Amdahl and National Semi are still making
big-ticket IBM-compatible machines. In other IBM news, IBM confirmed to
the Knight-Ridder News Service that its prototype model of the PC/AT computer
was stolen from the Boca Raton, Fla. facility months before it was announced.
Just how the unit was stolen, or why it was stolen, remains a mystery.
"We have no suspects," says IBM spokesman Rick Scott. Nor, he says, does
IBM have any reason to believe somebody is copying the computer...yet.
[***][9/4/84][***]
HP'S PC/AT DUE:
This week everyone is waiting for the newest member of the HP computer family.
A multi-user system that will compete with the IBM PC/AT is supposed to be
announced. It will be higher priced than the AT, however--somewhere in the
range of $13,000 according to my sources but will be IBM-compatible.
[***][9/4/84][***]
RE-EMERGING OSBORNE:
Look for Osborne Computer to make headlines again when its stock goes public
at the end of September. Finally, the reorganization committee is ready to
sell stock and introduce a new portable computer. The new computer is called
"The Vixen", a 10-pound portable with a battery and a 16 line LCD that's
supposedly lighter, faster and smaller than the Osborne 1 or the Executive.
No longer bankrupt, Osborne Computer is hoping to get $3 million from
the sale of stock to beef up its new sales campaign. As for the
company's original owner, Adam Osborne, he's said to have sold only
9,000 hardback editions of his new book "Hypergrowth", according to the
S.J. Mercury's Evelyn Richards. Osborne had hoped to sell 100,000 copies
but now expects to do that once the book goes paperback next year.
[***][9/4/84][***]
ARE THEY MOBIL OR ARE THEY PORTABLE:
Or as Wayne Green would offer, they're "picos". Whatever you call those
computers-to-go, here are a couple of surveys. InfoCorp of Santa Clara
predicts the portables will grow from $1 billion to $16 billion in sales
by 1989. (That translates from 2 million sold this year to 13 million
sold by 1989.) Dataquest is a bit more conservative. The San Jose-based
company forecasts 5.5 million units sold by 1989. Just what is a mobile,
portable or pico? Here's Dataquest's definition: It must have its own
power supply, a flat panel display of at least 8 lines X 40 columns, a
standard language and interface, a full keyboard and at least 32K of
RAM.
[***][9/4/84][***]
APPLE PSEUDO-SLOWDOWN?
InfoCorp has a startling conclusion. Maybe Apple is delivering fewer Apple IIe
computers in order to stimulate sales of the IIc... InfoCorp's July Retail
Brand Survey Report by Howard Furer shows most dealers think Apple just
isn't delivering IIe product for fear the IIc sales are slowing. Among the
survey's other findings are that fewer dealers are carrying DEC computers.
The percentage has dropped from 26 percent to 16 percent in six months.
InfoCorp suggests that may be because DEC is severing itself from retail
distribution in favor of corporation sales accounts. Kaypro is enjoying
a surge in sales. Also high are sales of Compaqs and AT&T computers,
surprisingly enough. Reliability problems surfaced most often with Commodore
computers. Dealers also say their most exciting new product is the HP
Portable or 110 computer, but they can't get enough of them from HP.
Finally, here's the best-selling software, according to InfoCorp, ranked
in order of highest sales: Lotus 1-2-3, AppleWorks, MultiPlan, PFS:File,
PFS:Write, WordStar, MultiMate, dBase II.
[***][9/4/84][***]
GAVILAN GROPES:
It's hard to lay off 68 percent of your workforce and cut prices on your
computers 36-percent without someone noticing. But that's just what
Gavilan, maker of a portable computer, managed to accomplish in the last
month. This column announced the layoff of 30-percent of the workforce
in June (leaving employment at 300). Now, there are only 70 people at
Gavilan. The Gavilan SC portable has been cut in price from $2995 to
$1895 and the Mobile Computer has been cut from $3995 to $2895. As
the new president Woody Rea explained, "I think we got in trouble in
the past from talking too much." The Campbell, Ca. company is reorganizing
following dismal sales and top brass defections. Rea says he's changing the
way Gavilans are sold. Fewer will be sold in stores. More of them will
be sold directly to end-users.
[***][9/4/84][***]
BRIEFS --
APPLE COMPUTER is glowing over its contract award from Tennessee. Apple will
sell 5,200 Apple IIe computers to Tennessee schools as the state's governor
proclaimed "each one of our 140,000 students (in 7th and 8th grade) will have
equal access to a computer." APPLE has also announced a nationwide $50,000
scholarship sweepstakes. No purchase is necessary. There are over $1,000
prizes ranging from the big scholarship to Apple gift items. Entry forms
are in Apple dealerships.
SOFTWARE COMPANIES may be able to present a rosier profit picture if the
Financial Accounting Standards Board rule is passed. Under the proposed
rule, companies may report certain expenses as assets. The new "assets"
include the cost of the first master version of a software product, along
with its coding and testing. The deadline for comment on the rule is
November 30. Send comments to the FASB New York office.
GHOSTBUSTERS, it is hoped, will shake up the video game business as much as
it has the movie business. ACTIVISION is banking on this hit for its
newest video game and has won the licensing agreement with Columbia Pictures.
David Crane of "Pitfall" will work on the Ghostbusters game which is expected
to be available around Christmas time.
DATATRAK INC. of Mountain View, Ca. is hanging by a thread, according to
its company president Richard Jaenicke. Maker of software for the
construction industry, DataTrak has a "negative net worth of $376,661."
You don't need to be an accountant to know what that means.
COMPUTERLAND is suing Fortune systems for failure to deliver product to
Computerland stores. Computerland claims Fortune didn't deliver hardware
and software from a January 1982 contract. Computerland seeks $1 million
in punitive damages. Just why they're making a big deal out of this is
not clear; Fortune's marketing policy is not exactly kind to dealer profit
margins nor have the machines been particularly reliable.
TANDY CORPORATION has signed an agreement with Koala Technologies in which
the Koala Pad maker will supply Tandy with its graphics tablets. The
product will be called the TRS-80 touch pad and will be designed for use
with the TRS-80 color computer. Shipments have reportedly started to
9,000 Radio Shack outlets.
THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION has agreed to investigate Tandon
Corporation's charges that several former employees stole copyrights.
Tandon has already filed a suit against the group, affiliated with Format
Corp. and Lucky Goldstar Group, charging unfair competition and
copyright infringement.
ISUZU will introduce a car next month that has a computer-controlled
manual transmission system. The computer monitors road and driving
conditions, and will operate the gearbox, clutch and accelerator for you.
Isuzu claims the new car, called the Aska (which isn't sold in the U.S.
yet) reduces fuel consumption by 15%.
SOURCES SAY that BYTE has cancelled its extra Apple issue. Byte had
planned to publish an Apple issue following this month's publication of an
IBM issue. Word is Byte couldn't get enough companies to buy ads...
SOURCES ALSO SAY that the magazine CAP (Computer Accessories and Peripherals)
is no more. CAP was published in Southern California.
[***][9/4/84][***]
AND FINALLY....
There's something of a strike against robots going on in the
Soviet Union. According to a report by Pravda, automatons are stacked in
Soviet warehouses because workers don't want to have anything to do with them.
Says a report in Reuter, "More than 25,000 robots have been produced in
the Soviet Union in the past three years...but output exceeds demand
because managers ignore orders to robotize production lines." The anti-
technology attitude may even get violent. The report claims many of
the robots are protected by wire fences and other security measures to
protect them from sabotage.