traherne@murdu.ucs.unimelb.edu.au (Richard Jordan) (10/28/90)
Subscribers in the U.S. may find it hard to believe, but Apple Australia is advertising the IIGS in a BIG way. Not only that -- they are directing the ads to the HOME COMPUTER market and putting the GS forward as an equal favorite with the Mac Classic. In the November issue of the Australian Women's Weekly, the largest selling magazine of any kind in Australia, there is a four-page color supplement from Apple called "Computers in the Home". It features both the GS and the new Mac, and gives equal time to each (and pictures of both). One section features a family that owns both machines, with Dad using the Mac and Mom and the kids happy with their color GS. The main caption reads "Now we have the best of both worlds with the Macintosh and the Apple IIGS". The ad is aimed at the Christmas market and advises people looking for a computer to do things like "Check to see what computers your local schools use" (72% are Apple). It ends with two "special" offers, one for the classic, one for the GS, both given equal space. (The special price seems to be the result of including some software at a reduction -- AWGS for the GS and Ragtime for the Mac.) However, even on special, the GS costs 50% more than the Mac, and the offer is limited to 2000 Classics, but only 500 GS's.