IBM Japan jogged Lotus Development Corp’s arm to an embarrassing extent but putting out a release saying that it was co-operating with Lotus Japan to implement the Japanese language 1-2-3 Release 3J for its PS/55 models under OS/2, and that the thing would be out at the end of June at $680 – which according to the Nikkei newspaper, was news to Lotus Japan officials, who had been planning to have the thing ready for a Christmas 1990 release – and had not even thought about how much to charge for it: the potential loss of face involved – remember these companies are Japanese first, IBM or Lotus second – was such that the IBM announcement has embarrassed Lotus into speeding up development efforts – and IBM Japan is lending it a hand.
