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Technology Stocks : Apple Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Doren who wrote (7158)	1/4/1998 10:04:00 PM
From: FR1	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 213173

The reason I think a Apple takeover would be good for IBM is that they can make a move to establish the dominant OS for all computers. They failed in the past (OS2, etc.) because they did not have any "seeded sites". There was no "mass of millions" installed and absolutely no reason to dump Win95 and take OS2. Apple allows IBM the rare opportunity to deploy a OS that is guarenteed to have a following of millions and is fundamentally better than NT. With the right muscle and sales, it has a serious possibility at replacing Microsoft. Rhapsody also fits beautifully with their database products. The only thing they need is a good word processor and they have a complete contender to Microsoft - the office package + the OS. This opportiunity may not come again. On top of all this is the fact that all the fat is out of Apple and they should start making a profit soon. One other thing - IBM is not dumb. Let's not forget that IBM stock dropped 50% in the not too distant past and stayed there for some time. They have made a financial comeback by reorganizing and getting some fat mainframe contracts. But reorganization is over now and with parallel processing + faster chips comming on the market, the fat is going to be taken out of the mainframe sales. IBM needs to think and act different too - otherwise they will go back to where they were a few years ago.

To: Doren who wrote (7158)	1/4/1998 10:38:00 PM
From: Phillip C. Lee	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 213173

The strategic alliance between Apple/IBM/Motorola(AIM) was focused on hardware design (CPU), not including Rhapsody support. It is very difficult for IBM to utter a word regarding alliance, however, when they say it, it will be a true commitment. You could see when IBM was one of Apple's cloners, did IBM manufacture any machines? No. They only sub-licensed to other comapnies. Speaking of Rhapsody support/sale, you mentioned it is very easy for IBM to take action. Again, sorry, the answer is still not easy. When mentioning that Apple has ported Rhapsody on Intel, it may be done since NeXT's been ported onto Intel. But, will Apple sell Intel machines? I doubt it will in the near future. Actually, the takeover is not my major concern, instead good quarter report will be the main force to keep away all noises from naysayers, and also is my hope. Phil