Hugh Symons suffers from Xemplar deal

The first bitter fruits of the deal between Acorn and Apple to sell their machines directly to the educational market has caused distributor Hugh Symons to close its Bradford office, leaving 20 people jobless.

Geoff Storer, Hugh Symons marketing manager, said the firm would close its office at the end of the month because of the formation of joint venture company Xemplar.

'It's mainly because of the changes in the channel for educational computing. Both Apple and Acorn decided to go their own way with supplying through schools.' Storer said some of the Bradford staff would be relocated to Poole, if possible.

Hugh Symons will concentrate on distributing cellular products for Motorola, Ericsson, Orange, Nokia and Mitsubishi and a systems integ ration strategy. Xemplar marcoms manager John O'Neill said the company was formally set up on April 2.