Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.tech From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: tech Wed, May 6 1992 Date: Wed, 6 May 92 05:32:34 EDT Message-ID: 05-06 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update May 6, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network IBM TO SELL BY MAIL: IBM is jumping into the mail-order personal computer business with a vengeance. Tuesday, the computer giant said it will deliver a high-powered PC to a customer's door for $1,495, almost $800 off its previous lowest PC price. The move comes as IBM continues to lose business to smaller, leaner PC makers, such as Gateway 2000 and Dell Computer, which each sell by mail-order services. (For more, see special IBM package below.) BULLETIN BOARDS ARE POPULAR: Computer bulletin boards are becoming the new talk radio for upscale folks who can afford the $1,000-plus of owning a personal computer and who prefer writing skills to oral ones. On-line services such as Prodigy, with 1.6 million subscribers, allow users to electronically communicate about anything from celebrity gossip to scientific information. OLIVETTI WINS MCCONTRACT: Italian computer maker Olivetti SpA Tuesday said it won a contract worth more than $300 million to supply workstations to all McDonald's restaurants in the USA. The contract is one of the largest in the USA for Olivetti. The new workstations will handle customer orders and administrative tasks and link restaurants to headquarters near Chicago. SEAWOLF SUBS STAY AFLOAT: The Senate rejected, 52-46, a GOP effort to kill two planned high-tech Seawolf submarines Tuesday, and the White House threatened to veto an $8.3 billion spending-cut bill that slashes other defense programs instead. "Cutting critical programs is not a viable alternative to eliminating unnecessary programs such as the Seawolf," the White House budget office told Senate leaders. DOUBLECARD HITS MARKET: Stac Electronics and ACE Technologies Tuesday jointly announced the introduction of DoubleCard. It is billed as the first palmtop computer memory card with data compression to double the amount of storage space on a standard RAM card. It is compatible with all DOS applications for palmtop and laptop computers, the firms say. Prices range from $309 to $879. WEATHER COULD DELAY ENDEAVOUR: Countdown to launch the new space shuttle Endeavour continued without a hitch Tuesday but bad weather could delay its Thursday takeoff, officials said. There is only a 30% chance that the shuttle will launch Thursday night, said Air Force shuttle weather Officer Ed Priselac. The weather is not expected to improve until Saturday. IDB COMMUNICATIONS SIGNS DEAL: IDB Communications Group Inc. said Tuesday it has entered into a joint venture with Russian Satellite Communications Co. and Morsviazsputnik. The agreement sets up a new network for private line and public telephone and data communications between the USA, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic States using the Russian Statsionar 5 satellite. VIDEOWAY TO UPGRADE SYSTEM: Videoway of Montreal and Perkins Engineering of Gary, Ill., announced a technology licensing agreement Tuesday. Videoway will integrate Perkins' Isix interactive television and services technology into its multimedia system. The Isix technology will allow customers to do such things as create their own video clips and take a tour of San Francisco, choosing when and where to go. AMERITECH TO OFFER VEHICLE HELP: Ameritech Mobile Communications is offering a new automobile assistance system. Available first in Chicago late this year, Ameritech's MobileVision phones a central computer, which asks the caller to press buttons to identify his problem - be it a dead battery or a flat tire. Via radio waves, the computer pinpoints the vehicle's location and lets the caller know when help will arrive. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON IBM: IBM IS LOSING MARKET SHARE: From September through March, IBM's share of the PC market - in terms of units shipped - tumbled from 31% to 24%. IBM says it will now offer its computers via mail-order. Investors cheered the news. IBM shares closed up $1 1:4 at $93 3:4. "If there's one place you want to be for sure in the next couple of years, it's the mail-order PC business," says PC analyst Rick Martin at Chicago Corp. MAIL-ORDER SALES WILL GROW: PC analyst Rick Martin says that the annual $45 billion market for PCs will grow only 11% per year through 1995 but the mail-order business will grow 40% a year, and that IBM's mail-order sales soon will surpass $1 billion a year. Market researcher Workgroup Technologies predicts that, by 1995, 30% of all PCs sold in the USA will be sold through the mail. IBM PRICES STILL ON HIGH SIDE: Competitors say IBM's mail-order prices are low, but not low enough. "That's a good price for IBM, but it's not as competitive as other companies," says Bill Hayden, CEO of CompuAdd. Hayden says CompuAdd sells a similar IBM PC for $1,395. And it comes with Microsoft's best-selling Windows PC software. Mail-order giant Dell sells a PC with a 50-megabyte hard drive for $1,270. COMPUTERS WILL STAY IN STORES: Dell CEO Michael Dell says IBM might find the mail-order business a bit puzzling. "You have to have the service and support structure," he says. Despite the popularity of mail-order PCs, don't look for PCs to disappear from stores anytime soon. Many consumers can't program a VCR, much less purchase a PC without help from a salesperson. (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