Laptops Looking For A Market

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday January 16, 1989

EVERY computer company now appears hell bent on producing a laptop. While I concede they are lovely machines to play with, I cannot see them dominating the world.

IDC, which normally comments sanely on the world of computers, is gung-ho for laptops. So are many marketing managers. I retain a strong Welsh Calvinist sense of suspicion.

News from the feeding frenzy:

* In Tokyo, Microsystems has released a 16-bit PS/2 Model 30-compatible laptop that weighs only 2.5 kilograms and measures 198 by 200 by 47 millimetres. Which is both small and light. The company has called it The Book. Because it accepts memory cards and IC cards instead of floppy discs, it sounds very similar to NEC's Ultralite. This slim machine has a built-in modem.

* In West Germany, Rein Electronic has released the Rein 450 SLC laptop. This has a very quick 16-megahertz 80286 microprocessor, a megabyte of memory, a single 1.44-megabyte floppy disc and an internal 40-megabyte hard disc. Price in West Germany is around the $8,000 mark.

* John Sculley of Apple has taken the unusual step of making a public announcement about a future product. He says that the Apple Macintosh laptop will not be released early this year, as was thought.

Apple probably will not introduce one until late in the year. John Sculley said the major hold-up was the screen.

"The screen technology that we have to use is different from what we're used to." The screens they have tested will not handle the high-speed movements of the mouse. And a Macintosh without a mouse is unthinkable.

Such screens do exist - but not in quantity and not at the right price. These are active matrix or thin transistor screens and are designed by at least 30 companies in Japan.

John Sculley also said that the portable would not be a major product for the year. "We're not projecting a lot of revenue from a portable in 1989."