Apple Computer Inc is now said to be close to signing up Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA, its majority-owned British affiliate Acorn Computer Group Plc and LG Group Ltd’s GoldStar Technology Inc as Mac OS licencees. According to PC Week and MacWeek, Power Computing Corp, the Milpitas PowerPC systems builder in which Olivetti is a significant shareholder, will supply finished boards to all three. The first machines from each are expected this autumn – and all three are said to be interested primarily in Power Computing’s upcoming line of Peripheral Component Interconnect Macs, which are expected to include six- and three-slot boxes taking PowerPC 601 and 604 processors. Goldstar is expected to focus exclusively on its home South Korean market, Olivetti is expected to offer its Mac clones through retail channels in the UK, Germany, France and Italy. And Acorn has an entree to English schools that is denied to Apple Computer Inc and the Cambridge company clearly believes that it can offer Macintosh clones as higher-end machines that many schools will not be able to afford, without compromising its cheaper home-grown ARM RISC-based Archimedes computer line.
