In a stunning switch, Germany, traditionally one of the most expensive markets for computers, is now among the cheapest, according to the latest quarterly survey by the Wall Street Journal and Dataquest Inc: personal computer shipments in Germany jumped 24.1% in the fourth quarter, to 964,115 units, while overall in Europe, shipments rose 17.7% to 3.96m units – and they were pricey ones, because sales rose 32% to $27,100m by value in the quarter; many consumer models in Germany now cost no more, and sometimes less, than those in the US; Vobis Mikrocomputer AG raised its share of the overall European market to 5.9% in the quarter from 4.6% a year earlier, and Escom GmbH took 4.1%, from 2.6% a year earlier; even Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG entered the reckoning with a 3.3% share, up from 2%; Compaq Computer Corp remained king of the heap with 12.5% of the market in the fourth quarter, up from 9.4% a year earlier; IBM Corp was down at 10.2% from 14.7% a year earlier, and Apple Computer Inc slumped to 6.9% from 8.9% while Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA slipped to 6.1% market share from 7.6% a year earlier – and those figures also include those of Acorn Computer Group Plc.
Commenting on its year-end figures (page seven) Informix Corp says that North American revenues rose 40% to $215.5m last year, while European revenues rose 22% to $176.0m, and Intercontinental region sales rose 42% to $77.2m; in the fourth quarter, annualised sales per employee climbed to $271,000.
The UK Office of Telecommunications has lost patience with British Telecommunications Plc over the issue of clear separation of accounts for different parts of its business, and intends to amend its licence to bring its method of cost-accounting into the light: the issue is crucial to the setting of interconnect fees, but the market did not take the news well, and British Telecom shares fell 9.5 pence to 395p; it questioned the level of discretion the watchdog was allowing itself, saying it accepted the principle of accounting separation proposed by Oftel and would be responding on the public record shortly; regulator Don Cruickshank had expressed extreme disappointment that BT had made no formal representations about the matter and had effectively forced him to consider confidential submissions; Mercury Communications Ltd said it looked forward to participating in the debate about cost-accounting rules.
The US Federal Communications Commission has finally responded to a 1993 request from AT&T Corp for a modification of the rules on foreign ownership of US telecommunications companies, and its views are good news for UK players and for all countries with liberalised telecommunications markets: the Commission is proposing that the 25% limit to foreign stakes should be raised, but that such investments should be allowed only if a US company would be able to do the same in the partner’s country, and whether other telecommunications markets there – such as broadcast and wireless – were also open to competition; on that basis there is no way that France Telecom or Deutsche Telekom AG would be permitted to buy their 20% Sprint Corp stake; the suggestions could be pre-empted if Congress ever gets around to agreeing and passing a new telecommunications bill – there is plenty of enthusiasm to get a new bill passed quickly, but little agreement on what such a bill should do.
Microsoft Corp says that more than 50 personal computer software and hardware companies have committed to providing services to their customers via the Microsoft Network: they include Borland International Inc, Computer Associates International Inc, Dell Computer Corp, Gateway 2000 Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co and Lotus Development Corp – but don’t look for Compaq Computer Corp, Apple Computer Inc or IBM Corp to join the Microsoft Network.
Computer 2000 AG reports that sales for the three months to December jumped 41.2% to the equivalent of $848m, but warned that the fiscal year to the end of September would still be marked by transition and addition
al burdens, adding We are more confident for 1995-96; net profit, hit by special charges and losses at foreign subsidiaries, plunged to the equivalent of $6m in the 1993-94 fiscal year, it said.
IBM Corp claims it has now shipped an aggregate 350,000 RS/6000s in the almost five years that the AIX Unix family has been on the market.
Acer Inc reported a 102.6% jump in sales in January to $139m and is going for $1,600m sales this year.
L M Ericsson Telefon AB will supply German company Miniruf GmbH, Bonn with a complete paging network in a deal worth over $33m: the network is scheduled to start during 1995.
Sun Microsystems Computer Co has been chosen as the exclusive workstation and server vendor for trading floors at Smith Barney Inc, one of the world’s largest investment bankers and brokers: it will supply over 1,000 systems including Sparcstation 20 workstations and Sparcserver 1000 computers running the Solaris 2 operating environment, to support trading floor applications. – o – Motorola Inc’s International Cellular Infrastructure Division says it has completed initial deployment of the largest contiguous Total Access Communications System analogue cellular network in the world – in China: the nationwide cellular network provides automatic roaming service for subscribers by interconnecting Motorola’s current cellular phone systems in the country’s 18 provinces and the cities of Peking, Shanghai and Tianjin.
BCE Holdings Plc’s Software Creations Ltd up in Manchester has been signed up by Nintendo of America Inc as the latest member of an exclusive world class publishing team writing games for the Nintendo Ultra 64 home video game system; BCE is turning itself from a pool hall Richard into a games company. – o – SBC Communications Inc, San Antonio, Texas has paid $316.6m for a 40% stake in VTR Inversiones SA of Chile, which has garnered 8% of the domestic long distance market after just two months and 21% of international long distance after a year, and is also active in cable television and wireless communications. – o – International CableTel Inc was the high bidder for the Northern Ireland cable television and local telephony franchise, offering annual cash payments for 15 years of #14.4m in addition to qualifying revenue; if its technical plans are seen as acceptable the licence normally goes to the highest bidder.
The privatisation of British Telecommunications Plc seemed fairly straightforward, so why is Germany finding it so incredibly difficult to get flotation of Deutsche Telekom AG anywhere near the starting blocks? A tale in the International Herald Tribune of how an entrepreneur spent $330,000 failing to get his First Defense harmless pepper spray onto the German market may help to explain the problem: in Germany, any spray intended for use against humans is classified as a weapon and must be tested on animals first (don’t they have enough neo-fascist thugs?) – but a 1987 law bans the testing of weapons on animals, so the only German authority allowed to assess new chemical sprays, the Fraunhofer Institut, is barred from doing the test itself and would be breaking the law if it commissioned anyone else to do it.
