Brother Industries Inc, known for its sewing machines, typewriters and latterly, OEM laser printers, is to expand its personal computer software marketing business: the company distributes software over telecommunication lines, using a terminal developed in 1986 in conjunction with Japan’s largest independent software house Intec Co and from any of 120 terminals in computer and domestic appliance shops – to be expanded to 300 within two years – a buyer can select the desired game or software package, insert money, and the software is instantly written onto a floppy and ejected from the machine; the machine incorporates a high-speed copying function, so that total time involved in the purchase can be reduced to just two to three minutes.
