Power assets tempt Apple down PC road

Manufacturer considers selling PC-based machines to exploit Wintel licence

n Jessica Hodgson

Apple is understood to be thrashing out details to buy up the remaining non-Mac assets of Power Computing to introduce a PC-based hardware line.

A source close to Apple US claimed: ?Several members of the board are thinking of buying out Power to leverage Mac technology into a low-end, high volume PC range.?

Speculation about the possibility of going direct has been growing since Greg Rhine, Apple VP of channel and sales development, announced plans to ?become more efficient, like Dell?. It has been mooted that Apple will sell low-end systems direct via the Web in October.

One source said: ?If Apple is going to introduce direct sales, there?s no point just attacking the Mac market. Other board members are saying: ?Apple is already a Windows licensee, why not introduce Wintel sales to boost the volume market???

Power Computing?s logistics plant in Texas was widely tipped to be a suitable central logistics operation for direct sales.

Speculation has been growing that US partners, including direct marketer Micro Warehouse and Ingram Micro, are in discussions with Apple to provide the fulfilment when the vendor sells direct.

Sources claimed UK distributors have approached the vendor with a view to winning a contract for UK fulfilment. One source claimed Ingram Micro had been in talks with Apple for an international fulfilment deal. But Sue Reid, Ingram business development manager for the Mac, claimed there had been no UK-based talks.