The first company to get a licence to make Power Macintosh clones is the low-profile start-up Power Computing Corp. The Milpitas, California-based company is promising that the first Mac clones will ship this spring – well ahead of the mid-1995 date that Apple Computer Inc has been suggesting. Moreover, Power Computing says that it will act as an OEM supplier of logic boards and complete systems for third parties, as well as selling its own branded Power Mac machines. The company, headed by veteran personal computer designer Steve Kahng, is selling itself on its ability to design Macs using more standard personal computer-type industry parts. But it admits that, in the first instance, at least the insides of its machines will look pretty similar to Apple’s conventional Power Macintoshes. Power Computing has apparently redesigned the motherboard to fit a conventional personal computer chassis, but the company is sourcing the Macintosh’s specialised support chips directly from Apple. Power Computing lays claim to a special position in Apple’s scheme to license Macintosh hardware and software. Power Computing has claimed that Apple only intends to license technology directly to a limited number of companies which would then provide boards or finished machines to other aspirant Macintosh-compatible manufacturers. As we went to press no one from Apple was available comment on this notion. Power Computing would not comment on reports that its first machines would retail for as little as $1,000. But Power Computing did say that it has signed up several OEM customers, including some in Europe, and that these customers will have their own machines available by the middle of this year.
