dg1v+@andrew.cmu.edu (David Greene) (09/18/90)
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From: DowJones
Subject: Report Next Inc. To Unveil PC Model With Color Screen
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 90 17:54:44 -0400 (EDT)
SAN FRANCISCO -AP- Industry reports say Steve Jobs' Next Inc. plans
to unveil a more powerful, color-screen version of the Next computer,
as well as an entry-level, $5,000 model - half the cost of the current
machine.
At the same news conference, software developers are expected to announce
new applications programs for the Next. Among them is expected to be
Lotus Development Corp., creator of the popular 1-2-3 spreadsheet, which
has devised a new type of financial modeling system for the Next.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, the new machines will have
triple the operating speed. Color will be available and the price of
the low-end model will be $4,995, with discounts available for volume
purchases.
The reported improvements would answer critics who say the Next is
too expensive, too slow, in need of a color monitor and lacking imaginative
software that would give people a compelling reason to buy it.
While Next has been praised for high-tech innovations, only several
thousand of the machines have been sold, and Next has failed to generate
great interest among bread-and-butter corporate computer users, analysts
say.
Businessland Inc., a computer store chain that signed an exclusive
deal with Next in March 1989 to sell its machines domestically to corporations-
, had predicted sales would hit $100 million in the first year.
But International Data Corp., a high-tech research firm, estimates
that fewer than 7,000 Nexts were sold as of June.
Next, which is privately held, does not disclose its sales or finances.
5:54 PM