Apple Seeing Mixed Results from Cloning (1996)
Apple Seeing Mixed Results From Cloning
AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Dec. 30, 1996See the article in its original context from December 30, 1996, Section D, Page 1Buy ReprintsTimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers.About the ArchiveThis is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.Sean Anker, chief engineer for Innovative Edit, a video production company based in Indianapolis, recently decided to stay with a technology that many business people have fled: Macintosh computers. But instead of an Apple machine, he bought a Macintosh clone from the Umax Computer Corporation, a tiny start-up company based in Fremont, Calif.''It absolutely screams in terms of speed,'' Mr. Anker said of his Umax SuperMac S900L model, purchased for about $3,000 -- some $500 less than a comparable Power Macintosh 9500 from Apple Computer would have cost. ''And it holds up well for video work and image editing,'' he said.Mr. Anker never even considered a PC running Microsoft Windows, saying that Macintosh-based editing software is far more flexible and easier to use. And he plans to buy a less expensive Umax model for his home soon, and is bullish on the Mac clone industry as a whole.''I can see a lot of grass roots excitement building because prices have plummeted,'' he said.People like Mr. Anker are precisely the types Apple had in mind when it began its cloning experiment two years ago after considerable angst and years of internal debate. And the clone experiment is showing signs of success -- though whether it will pay off for Apple itself is still an open question.Price breaks and new choices from clone makers, Apple executives reasoned, would shore up the Mac's reputation among consumers, eventually increasing the overall market share of the Macintosh operating system software. The Mac OS, as the software is known, can use the help; it now holds an estimated market share of only about 5.4 percent, compared with more than 8 percent last year.''We're pleased,'' Lamar Potts, Apple's vice president for licensing, said of the clone strategy. ''Today you've got not only Apple talking up this platform, but a list of licensees contributing to a good foundation for building an industry. There are about 40 different Mac-compatible configurations on the market right now, with only about 10 from Apple.''Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT