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.