IBM Corp has received a number of commitments for PowerPC-based personal computers, mostly from major companies, Austin, Texas-based IBM vice-president Phil Hester told Dow Jones & Co: he wouldn’t disclose the number of commitments received but said he was satisfied with the level so far; the machines will be launched sometime in the second half of 1994; Hester said the PowerPC personal computers would be aimed at a number of markets, including companies that want to streamline computers, big and small, so they can all run the same software; he wouldn’t disclose IBM’s pricing strategy for the new PowerPC line, except to say they would start in the same $1,500 to $2,000 entry range of competing high-powered personal computers.