Looks as though Apple Computer Inc is finally setting its wholly- owned Claris Corp up to be spun out, or at least freed from the Infinite Loop. 300 employees are to be laid off as the unit is renamed FileMaker Inc for its popular Windows and Mac standalone database. Other software will get sold or absorbed into Apple, which from February 1 will also begin to distribute its own software, previously a Claris function. Apple will develop, distribute and support the ClarisWorks word processing and groupware software. Claris, which had managed to escape the majority of Apple’s recent restructuring pain, says FileMaker Pro is the second most popular standalone database for Windows behind Access with a 25% market share. It claims three million units sold and 2,500 developers writing FileMaker Pro programs. Sales of its FileMaker Pro software were $73m in its financial 1997 and $24m in the fourth quarter to the end of December. Sales of the Windows versions were $28m in the year.
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