rbarris@ics.uci.edu (Robert Charles Barris) (05/28/90)
I read this on America Online the other day and was disturbed greatly. Can anyone confirm or deny the information in this article? According to the date, Apple would have run out of 030s by now. ---begin article Subj: Apple says only 8 days of 68030 90-05-18 20:33:27 EDT From: AFA Candy Msgs: 1 (90-05-18) APPLE TELLS OF 8-DAY 68030 SUPPLY CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 MAY 11 (NB) -- In an effort to halt a Texas judge's impending ban on the sale of Motorola 68030 microprocessors in the US, Apple Computer has filed a statement saying that it only has on hand an 8-day supply of the chips, the brains of at least 50 percent of its product lines, according to court documents obtained by Electronics News. This contrasts with the public statement by Apple at the time of the judge's decision to stay his order, March 30, that Apple had a full quarter's, or three month supply, of the microprocessors on hand. The weekly quotes William Lard, associate general counsel for Apple as saying that delay in the chips will mean that Apple "will not be able to produce half its products." The statement says that "Any prolonged delay in obtaining the 68030 microprocessors will have a substantial impact on the thousands of Apple employees." An Apple spokesman would not comment on the report, which was supposed to have been in confidential, sealed documents submitted to the court. On March 30, U.S. District Court Judge Lucius Bunton temporarily lifted a court-ordered ban on sales of 68030 microprocessors until an appeal is heard in a case between Motorola and Hitachi, which he had decided. He had forbidden Motorola from selling its popular 68030 microprocessor in the U.S. until the year 2004; Hitachi was ordered to stop marketing or selling the H8 chip which it accused Motorola of copying, for the duration of certain Motorola patents, and to pay the company $1.9 million in fines. In making his decision, the judge came down hard on both companies' failure to communicate over previous licensing agreements. Motorola sued first in 1988, charging Hitachi with violating trade secrets in development of controllers. Hitachi countersued, charging Motorola with patent infringement. Most observers expect the two sides to come to a less severe agreement out of court, and to submit it to the judge for his consideration. (Wendy Woods/19900330/Press Contact: Tim Kellogg, Motorola, 708-576-0642) --- end article
marc@Apple.COM (Mark Dawson) (05/29/90)
In article <26604D72.8001@paris.ics.uci.edu> rbarris@ics.uci.edu (Robert Charles Barris) writes: > > I read this on America Online the other day and was disturbed greatly. >Can anyone confirm or deny the information in this article? According to >the date, Apple would have run out of 030s by now. > >---begin article >Subj: Apple says only 8 days of 68030 90-05-18 20:33:27 EDT >From: AFA Candy Msgs: 1 (90-05-18) > >APPLE TELLS OF 8-DAY 68030 SUPPLY > >CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 MAY 11 (NB) -- In an effort to halt a Texas > [article on Apple supporting Motorola/tells of 8-day 68030 supply] I believe you misread the article. Apple uses the Just-In-Time delivery system--for those parts it can can daily delivery of, it probably doesn't keep more than a week's worth of that part. The article stated that Apple didn't want the '030 ban REinstalled. Last I heard the ban was still off && Motorola was still selling the '030s as fast as they can make them. So there is no problem with Apple running out of '030s because they can still buy them. If the ban does go into effect, I have no doubt that Apple will secure more than an 8 days supply. Mark -- --------------------------------- Mark Dawson Service Diagnostic Engineering AppleLink: Dawson.M Apple says what it says; I say what I say. We're different ---------------------------------