About This Particular Macintosh 6.04 - eDisk

First the Best, Now the RestShares of Gateway and Compaq have had a little slow going as of late. Gateway has a loyalbase of installed users, but has had trouble maintaining its historical rate of sales growth(sound familiar?). On the other hand, Compaq has been making great strides to change itsproduct line and revamp its distribution systems in the face of tough competition. Notablyabsent from the news stories about Gateway and Compaq, however, are the dire predictionsof collapse that plagued Apple Computer when it faced a tough transition followingMicrosoft’s Windows 95 release.Once viewed as a competitive disadvantage, computer industry analysts are now viewingApple’s proprietary operating system as a competitive advantage. Apple does not payMicrosoft a licensing fee on each unit sold. This savings reduces the company’s cost per unitand sales of the Mac OS to owners of older Macs provides Apple with a source of high marginrevenue. Perception is a potent force in the minds of buyers; no longer concerned thatApple is here today but will be gone tomorrow, first-time computer buyers and former Macowners are purchasing new Macs in very large numbers. Where does all this leave Gatewayand Compaq? It leaves them with the challenge of developing better products while reducingcosts.Both Gil Amelio and Steve Jobs saw the need to slash Apple’s costs by reducing the numberof different products manufactured and refocusing the company’s efforts on key markets.Compaq, despite its recent efforts, still has a bloated cost structure and has continued to tryand maintain market share at the expense of profits. This cannot go on forever; Compaqmay face another round of write-downs on its PC business before it returns to healthy profits.Gateway, which was an innovator in the direct-to-consumer market, is facing tough competitionfrom Dell and Apple who have recently done a much better job of reaching consumersthrough Web-based sales. It’s no wonder Gateway’s management is looking away from hardwaresales in order to grow sales and profits. We see tough times ahead for both companiesas they work diligently to realign their product and business strategies.Mighty Multi MacsRumors come and rumors go, but good ideas tend to stay. Apple has a problem of sorts withthe lack of faster G4 chips from IBM and Motorola. This is most likely a short-term problemATPM 6.04 ← 10 →Welcome