IBM POWER PC
By Adnews Staff
U.S.-based International Business Machines Corp. is putting its Power PCs on the North American market beginning next month. The line consists of five desktop models and two Thinkpad portables. The machines use the Power PC chip designed by Apple Computer, IBM and Motorola Corp. They feature 100Mhz, 120Mhz and 133 Mhz versions of the chip, and are up to 50% faster than comparable Pentium-based machines. In addition, they have voice recognition, and one notebook carries a built-in video camera. Beginning in the second half of next year, IBM will use Apple's Macintosh software in its Power PCs. The alliance is expected to help sell IBM Power PCs to consumers who are more familiar with Apple's operating system. Apple and IBM are still negotiating a licensing agreement. Late last year, Apple announced licensing pacts with Power Computer and Radius Inc., allowing them to manufacture clones of the Macintosh. IBM officials were unavailable yesterday to say what advertising or promotion is planned for the new machines. Ogilvy & Mather is the computer giant's agency around the world. IBM has also announced that it currently does not plan to make its OS/2 Warp operating system capable of running programs designed for Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 95, due on the market in August. However, IBM is also hedging, saying that it may later make Warp compatible with Windows 95 if there is a customer demand. This means IBM is hoping it can persuade more software developers to create versions of their programs specifically for the IBM operating system. Software developers haven't felt the need to create OS/2 programs since their Windows programs now run on OS/2.