Apple Computer Inc intends to price its PowerPC Macintoshes at more than $200 less than personal computers powered by Pentium chips, Ian Diery, executive vice-president, told Dow Jones & Co: I welcome the pricing wars, Diery told the news wire, adding that since PowerPC chips are as little as a quarter as expensive as Pentium to make, Apple has ample room to drop prices as well; Apple aims to convert 40% of its Macintosh shipments to PowerPC by year-end, with complete changeover occurring within three to four years, Diery said; in three to five years, Apple intends to boost its worldwide market share by more than 5%; he wouldn’t comment on reports by some software developers that Apple has between 100,000 and 125,000 PowerPC Macintoshes stockpiled for the launch, except to say the company will hit the market with a three- to four-weeks supply; he reckons up to 75 native PowerPC applications will be available on the market within a month of the product’s introduction and that by year-end, the number will rise to between 300 and 1,000.
