Apple says market share fell sharply in 1997
Reuters Story - January 23, 1998 16:53
%DPR %BUS %US AAPL MSFT CPQ IBM V%REUTER P%RTR
CUPERTINO, Calif., Jan 23 (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc.
disclosed in a yearly financial filing that its U.S. and
worldwide market share fell sharply in its fiscal 1997, amid
declining sales of its Macintosh computers.
The worldwide market share of the Cupertino, Calif.,
company fell to 3.1 percent in its fiscal fourth quarter, which
ended Sept. 30, 1997, down from 5.2 percent the year before,
Apple disclosed in its 10K filing with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission.
In the United States, its share fell to 4.3 percent from
6.6 percent, the company said.
Apple, the biggest personal computer maker in the United
States in the early 1990s, has seen its market share and clout
collapse in the past three years as its Macintosh computers
lost out to personal computers based on standards set by
Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp.
In the quarter ended Dec. 31, 1997, Apple reported a profit
of $47 million, or 33 cents a share, on strong sales of its
powerful new G3 models. But the company had reported $1.8
billion in cumulative losses in the previous two years.
Sales for 1997 fell 28 percent to $7.1 billion.
Apple also said it believes its sales will be below the
level of the prior year's comparable periods "through at least
the second fiscal quarter of 1998, if not longer." Apple's
second quarter ends March 31.
Apple stock rose 12.5 cents to $19.375 in afternoon Nasdaq
trading.
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