IBM Corp formally announced formation of its planned consumer division and named yet another former American Express Co executive to head it. He is James Firestone, who left American Express to become head of the home services unit of Ameritech Corp 18 months ago – but his father was a 30-year IBM veteran who served as a marketing executive in Japan. He will report to Richard Thoman, IBM senior vice-president, who had been his boss at American Express and has overseen the personal computer business since joining IBM in early 1994. The new consumer division will take over the Aptiva home computer line, muddying again the waters that IBM had tried to clear by combining all personal computer design under one roof to cut costs. The consumer division is also expected to explore Personal Digital Assistants and new types of on-line services. It will take over multimedia software and on-line services, presumably including Prodigy, under a single development, marketing, and distribution organisation. The division’s products will fall into two broad categories – personal computer-based products and IBM network-based offerings, including the delivery of on-line services.
