Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.tech From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: tech Mon, Jun 22 1992 Date: Mon, 22 Jun 92 05:14:50 EDT Message-ID: 06-22 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update June 22, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network PC PRICES ON DOWNWARD SPIRAL: The price war among personal computer makers is fast wiping out much of the profit from the industry. Almost weekly, another PC maker slashes prices on its products or introduces a lower-priced line. "There's only so much blood you can squeeze out of a rock," says Bruce Lupatkin of Hambrecht & Quist. "The only downward spiral is a death spiral for some of these (smaller) companies." (For more, see special Price package below.) TOSHIBA, IBM TO SIGN DEAL: Toshiba Corp., a major electronics maker in Japan, is expected to develop and sell flash memory semiconductors jointly with IBM Corp., the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai newspaper says. The two companies are likely to sign an agreement by August, the paper says. Unlike random access memory chips now available, flash memory chips can retain data even after electrical power has been cut off. MICROSOFT FOUNDER TO BE HONORED: Microsoft founder Bill Gates will receive the National Medal of Technology from President Bush Monday. The 36-year-old Gates, who left Harvard to start Microsoft in 1975, will be the first software industry executive awarded the medal. Microsoft's basic operating system runs on more than 90 million personal computers. SECOND TO BE ADDED JUNE 30: On June 30, timekeepers will add another second to make up for the nearly full second the Earth's rotation has slowed since 1990. If left unadjusted, the time gap could wreck havoc on navigational equipment, satellites, telephones and computers that rely on synchronized pulses. There have been 16 leap seconds since 1972. The last was in 1990. IBM TO SELL ALTAI SOFTWARE: IBM says it has signed a 25-year contract agreement to market Altai Inc.'s mainframe software. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. IBM's subsidiary, Integrated Systems Solutions Corp., will offer Altai's Z:Team software packages, which carry prices ranging from $15,000 to $60,000. CASIO DEVELOPS THIN LCD: Casio Computer Co., a leading digital watch maker in Japan, says it has developed the world's thinnest liquid crystal display. The display is about one-fourth of the conventional LCDs in depth at 0.5 millimeters. Casio will work with Tandy Corp. to develop ultralight personal computers called "personal information processors." RUST PUTS LAUNCH ON HOLD: A $300 million military launch is grounded because a Titan 4 rocket is rusting. The 204-foot rocket has been standing at an oceanside launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for more than a year. It now is being partially disassembled, officials said Friday. It will be repaired and probably will not be ready to carry a heavy national security payload into orbit until early next year. 13-DAY SHUTTLE TRIP PLANNED: The longest shuttle mission ever will start Thursday as a souped-up Columbia orbiter blasts off for a 13-day flight. Refurbished with some of the most modern equipment in the shuttle fleet, the oldest orbiter will be used to conduct scientific experiments that range from growing crystals to burning plastic. It will do studies that could lead to advances in electronics, medicine and industry. CRYSTALS WILL BE GROWN IN SPACE: On the Columbia space shuttle mission to begin Thursday, one experiment will produce the finest crystals ever grown in space. They will be made in a furnace inside Columbia's cargo bay laboratory. The experiment could lead to advances in not only household electronics but infrared detectors used in medical diagnostic equipment, telescopes and night-vision goggles. MICROM UNVEILS BRIDGE:ROUTER: Microcom Inc., a developer of internetworking solutions, has introduced the Microcom Bridge:Router Release 6.0, multi-protocol bridge router. It offers users an easy way to interconnect Token Ring and Ethernet networks via wide area networks, including Frame Relay, X.25 and leased lines, the firm says. Now available, prices start at $3,999. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON PRICE: PRICES COULD GO DOWN TO $500: The vicious price war among personal computer makers is expected to continue. Lucy Painter, an analyst at Salomon Brothers, says the price of PCs with a 386 microprocessor could be as low as $500 by the end of the year. Next Monday, Dell Computer will launch a cut-rate line code-named Gemini, including a fully equipped 486 PC for just $1,300. STOCK HAS GONE DOWN: As the price of of PCs has gone down, so has the stock of most computer makers. Many PC makers face an ugly choice: Cut prices and maintain market share, or maintain prices and lose it. The price wars are also leaving PC makers with less money for the bottom line, and less to spend on research, development and other areas. PC MARKET IS SHRINKING: There will be fewer first-time personal computer buyers in the future. Despite recent price cuts, between 40% and 45% of PCs are sold to people who've bought one before. By 1994, three-quarters of customers will be repeat buyers. That means the potential market for PC sales is shrinking - and that could contribute to slower industry growth in the years ahead. SMALL FIRMS COULD LOSE: The small PC companies, like Gateway 2000, Zeos International and hundreds of makers of no-name PCs, could be the biggest losers in the price-cutting war. Those companies have robbed sales from Apple, Compaq and IBM, but have little room left to cut costs. Analysts say the big PC makers have the financial clout to lower prices and drive smaller PC makers out of business. (End of package.) Technology Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM