E4 targets 60K Macs for DVD upgrade..............................
On another front, the first aftermarket Apple DVD-ROM drive maker, E4, plans to ship two DVD-ROM drives in June, said John Chan, director of product marketing.
One industry source said Hitachi and Pioneer may also be developing DVD-ROM drives for the Apple market.
E4's new drives, one internal and one external, are expected to cost about $500 each with an MPEG card. Both offer SCSI connectivity. E4's Cool DVD has an ESP of $499. Only Apple Power Macintosh G3 series computers with 16MB of RAM and Mac OS 8.1 can use the drives, Chan said.
"There are 4 million Macs on the market that can handle DVD, and we believe we can get 1.5 percent of that market," said Chan.
MacCenter, an Apple specialty store in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has seen growing interest in Macintosh products, said Mark Miller, the retailer's director of sales and marketing.
"There has been a steady climb in sales, and what we are hearing for the first time is a buzz over the G3. This seems to indicate PC buyers are taking a second look at Apple," Miller said.
Other vendors are also looking forward to a stronger Apple this year. "We are feeling more positive about Apple's future. Everyone has already gone through the 'Mac is dying,' stage to the 'Well maybe they are not going to die,' " said Patti Norris, senior product line manager for Umax scanners.
Copyright (c) 1998 CMP Media Inc.
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