There was a time when it seemed Apple Computer Inc and Digital Equipment Corpis were going to be bes’ friends, if not more than friends, until Ken Olsen trod on too many toes and even rebuffed an offer by John Sculley to sell the company to DEC. Since then, Apple has gone off and allied itself firmly with IBM Corp, but residual affection still seems to linger with DEC, and in India, the company has teamed up with Digital Equipment (India) Ltd to manufacture the Macintosh LCII for the Indian market. Hinditron Pte Ltd will provide distribution for Apple, which will significantly broaden its market coverage. India is seen as one of Apple’s fastest-growing markets with potentially millions of new customers. Since its inception in 1988, Apple Pacific has aggressively pursued new markets that afford the type of potential India is currently providing, said John Floisand, president of Apple Pacific. India offers a significant growth opportunity for Apple Far East, by giving us access to the world’s largest university-educated population, as well as a newly liberalised economic environment. Apple also plans to mobilise India’s vast army of trained programmers to produce a new generation of third-party products and custom systems for users in India and around the world, and is currently working with 10 local software developers on the programme.
