[comp.sys.mac.misc] Apple, Innovation and Clones

brendan@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au (Brendan Mahony) (07/10/90)

Apple does not wish to target the low end of the computer market for
several good reasons. Amongst them would be

1) Reduced overhead will cut into research budget, reducing future
   competitiveness.
2) Corporate image. Consider the public perception of Commodore and
   Atari.

But Apple could create a seperate subsiduary dedicated to the production of
Macintosh clones. Apple could simply sell them ROM's and let them do
what they like. All profits would still go to the parent company, the
user base will increase and Apple's corporate image remains intact. 

What do people see as the advantages and disadvantages offered by this
scheme?
--
Brendan Mahony                   | brendan@batserver.cs.uq.oz       |
Department of Computer Science   |
University of Queensland         |
Australia                        |

woody@tybalt.caltech.edu (William Edward Woody) (07/10/90)

In article <4220@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au> brendan@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au writes:
>But Apple could create a seperate subsiduary dedicated to the production of
>Macintosh clones. Apple could simply sell them ROM's and let them do
>what they like. All profits would still go to the parent company, the
>user base will increase and Apple's corporate image remains intact. 

Because it would be intelligent.  If Corporate Apple is unable to manage
itself well (witness the management restructuring every 6 months), how
do you expect them to actually do anything intelligent?

I have a feeling that since the introduction of the Macintosh, someone in
the corporate Apple headquarters got himself a Mac and a graphics package,
and has been having fun changing the organization every six months.  Then,
the chart gets published, people get fired, and management spends the next
six months reorganizing itself.

So how in the name of hell do you expect these people, who are playing God
in the upper ranks over there at Apple, do actually DO something, such as
spining off a seperate company to produce a low cost Macintosh?

Besides, they'd only buy it back, like they are doing with Claris...

--
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