Power PC surge is drain on Apple

Power Computing sells Intel as share sell-off enables European expansion

Macintosh clone vendor Power Computing has rebuffed Apple by selling Intel-based PCs. It will expand in Europe using about $27 million from an initial public share offering (IPO).

Power Computing will sell 3.45 million shares at between $8 and $10, giving it a cash injection worth $24 million to $30 million, which it will use to increase its sales outside the US. Only 10 per cent of Power Computing?s sales come from the US.

In a share prospectus, Power Computing said its business was limited by selling only Mac-based kit and that it is developing selected Wintel desktop and mobile PCs which it plans to begin selling during the first half of 1998.

It will also manufacture server systems which run Microsoft Windows NT and the Mac operating system together.

?The company has experienced substantial growth in revenues relating to its Mac- compatible products. The company does not expect to sustain such a rate of growth, if any, in the future, including upon its introduction of Wintel computer systems,? said the prospectus.

Power Computing admitted it had disagreed with Apple over royalty payments for the Mac OS licence, because it expects to pay the same rate until the next Mac OS upgrade, Rhapsody, is launched. Apple said Tempo, the update to OS 8, is the next version and deserves a higher royalty payment.

In its IPO filing, Power Computing conceded that Apple can control the supply of parts it needs to build Apple clones.

It also announced it would enter the education market, tightening the screw on Apple, which still has a strong presence in the market.