The last statement is the curious one.
Jan. 29, 1999 (Computer Retail Week - CMP via COMTEX) -- You didn't have to be Perry Mason to predict
that Sony would sue Connectix over its Virtual Game Station. The $49 product, which was touted like the
second coming at the recent Macworld Expo, lets users run certain PlayStation titles on G3-based Macs.
Sony claims patent infringement, arguing that the Virtual Game Station could damage the PlayStation name
because the application doesn't play all titles. More likely is that Sony couched its claim carefully, fearing a
backlash from Apple school fish and gamers overall. The VGS is a cool concept, though not perfect. Hats off
to Connectix for announcing version 1.1 of the product the day after Sony announced its lawsuit. The new
version of the title opens VGS to considerably more PlayStation games, and may help allay some of Sony's
fears.
The folks at AMD had planned only a single whammy when it came to their plans to introduce the K6-3 this
month. The idea, as relayed through channels, was to head off the launch of the Pentium III by beating it to
market, if only by a week or two. As far as we hear, those plans are still on track. The second whammy
came from Intel itself, with the revelation that all new P-IIIs would have a tracking serial number. Threats of
boycotts and state legislation to block the chip can't have been the type of publicity Intel expected. Intel, of
course, decided to back off, but the event sure put Pentium III in the news. You couldn't have planned it
better.
Meanwhile, Intel continues to get serious at the low end. Next week, it's scheduled to make another round of
price cuts across the board on its Celeron chips (see story at www.crw.com). It also moved up by more than
three months the launch of the Celeron 433MHz, which sources said will ship March 21.
The grumbling continues among some iMac retailers, who are required to stock their shelves with all five
flavors of the new Apple item. But there may be room for negotiation. We hear grape is the early leader
among the flavors, and that in certain instances, retailers such as colleges who know they will sell iMacs
only in their school colors could get special dispensation from the requirement. The rumor was unconfirmed
at press time.
Harry "Webb" McKinney, who helped bring Hewlett-Packard into the home-PC market, has moved on to
HP's Business PC Organization. McKinney, who had been the original general manager of the home product
group, will be replaced by Jacques Clay, who was vice president and general manager of HP's business
desktop and mobile group. McKinney is credited with building HP into a brand to be reckoned with in the
retail market. And while HP's market share slipped during the critical fourth quarter of last year, it still holds
the unofficial record for the most PCs sold in a day: 60,000 during the first few hours of sales the day after
last Thanksgiving at Wal-Mart.
What will Compaq do for an encore after the AltaVista spin-off? We hear $200 to $300 Internet appliances
are on the way.
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