★ PEOPLES ★ AMSTRAD GIVES CITY JITTERS AS PC SHIPS EARLY (POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY) ★ |
| Amstrad gives City jitters as PC ships early (Popular Computing Weekly) | Amstrad set to launch new 16-bit micro? (Popular Computing Weekly) |
AMSTRAD has brought forward its UK launch date for the PC 1640, and will be previewing the EGA versions of the machine at the PC User Show next week Limited numbers of the new PC will be shipping in August, and volume delivery should begin in September The move sparked off speculation among City observers that Amstrad s future is not as rosy as it appeared. A number of analysts, including Chase Manhattan Securities and Phillips and Drew, are said to have revised their 1987/88 forecasts for Amstrad downwards Chase cut its profits forecast from £214m to £180m, and Phillips and Drew cut its from £175m to £150m. It was a bad week for Amstrad altogether. The forecast revisions were provoked by the PC 1640 announcement, which was in turn seen as confirmation of market research reports that Amstrad PC sales figures were only half of last September's 70,000 target Phillips and Drew, for one. is reported to be unsure about future prospects for the PC1512. saying that the rescheduling of the PC1640 launch will deter sales of the In making the announcement. Amstrad sales and marketing chief Malcolm Miller added a vigorous denial that the company was about to drop the PC1512. "There has been persistent rumour that we will be dropping the PC1512. but I can confirm that there is no question of the PC1512 being discontinued "Although the PC1512 has sold well into the business sector, we recognise that the corporate customer, which we define as bulk orders through central purchase' has not bought the PC1512 in large quantities "We expect the PC 1640 with EGA to satisfy the demands of this business sector, whilst the PC1512 will continue to sell into the* smaller commercial operation, and into the home for out-of-hours business applications." Amstrad launched the new PC range at Comdex in Atlanta. USA. earlier this month. The company made clear then its intention to target the machine at the US market, with the UK launch originally expected no sooner than the New Year. Popular Computing Weekly (87/6)
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