mjsagar@sandia.gov (9123 SAGARTZ, MATHIAS J.) (01/23/90)
{This is a second attempt at posting this message, so please forgive
me if it's a repeat. The mail around here is not terribly reliable and
I think that it didn't get out the first time.}
In today's (1/19/90) Wall Street Journal there were a couple of
items that show how tough the computer industry is getting. Apple
reported earnings of $124.8 million on sales of $1.493 billion. Those are
down 11% and up 6%, respectively, from the year earlier quarter. The
article states that Apple will continue its "strategic shift" and
concentrate more on the high end of the personal-computer market,
".....while leaving the low end to IBM-clone makers and companies such as
Atari Corp. and Commodore International Ltd." Other quotes of interest:
"Apple was somewhat surpries by just how soft the market is."
"'I'm not sure how we go about making money on the low end,' said Mr.
Sculley, who added that he was 'perplexed' last fall when a price cut on
the Plus resulted in a decline in sales. 'That's one of the reasons why
you see us concentrating on the high and midrange systems.'"
"'You don't do a low-cost version of yesterday's product, it's bad karma,'
said Jean-Louis Gassee, who heads Apple's research and product development
group." Wow, he knows about karma! No wonder he gets the big bucks and
Apple is the official Yuppie machine.
"Apple also is hard at work at a new generation of machines that will
share only some features with its popular Macintosh line. 'You'll
probably see them in the mid 1990s,' Mr. Sculley said."
DEC reported a 44% decline in earnings for the 4'th quarter on
virtually the same sales, $3.184 billion, as last year. The costs of
entry into the mainframe market, continuing heavy investments in
software and services, and a very slow U.S. market were cited were cited
as problems that company is currently facing.
On a more positive note, there was an article on Motorola's
anticipated unveiling of the 68040. Motorola claims it has begun shipping
samples of the $795 chip. The article claims the '040 is a 20 mip, 3.5
million flop chip. For comparison purposes they claim describe the Intel
80486 chip as a 15 mip, 1 million flop device. Motorola presented a list
of computer makers who have indicated that they will build machines with
the 68040 chip. Notably absent from the list was Sun Microsystems.