Word: gavilan
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Some computer companies that tried to rush Mother Nature have ended up filing for bankruptcy or merging with other firms. Among the best-known casualties: VisiCorp, Osborne and Gavilan. Even mighty IBM is not immune to the vaporware syndrome. Two years ago the company fell so far behind schedule with the PCjr that it was forced to postpone delivery of its eagerly awaited home computer until after the Christmas sales rush. Apple, meanwhile, has still not delivered the large disk drive that was to have been the centerpiece of the Macintosh Office announced with great hoopla early in 1985. According...
...survival. Future Computing, a Dallas-based market research firm, says that in the past two years the number of personal computer manufacturers has shriveled from more than 200 to about 150. Some companies, including Mattel and Timex, have simply dropped their home computer lines, but several smaller firms like Gavilan Computer of Campbell, Calif., and Beehive International of Salt Lake City, have filed for bankruptcy. Last year 570 of 3,800 computer retailers in the U.S. closed their doors or were taken over by large chains. Even the number of computer magazines has tumbled from some...
...some ways, people with machines orphaned by IBM are better off than those who bought from firms that filed for bankruptcy (such as Franklin, Gavilan, Osborne and Victor) or simply quit the computer field (Coleco, Mattel, Timex). IBM's higher-priced models are still enormously successful, which ensures a steady stream of IBM compatible software, some of which will run on the PCjr. Moreover, the giant company has promised to continue to provide parts and service "as long as the product is around...
Much is riding on what happens between now and Christmas, when the industry does 40% of its annual business. Companies had sluggish sales this summer, and several firms, including Gavilan and Franklin, went bankrupt during the slump. Retailers, especially, are counting on a robust holiday selling season. Says Dyson: "They're discounting like crazy just to stay alive." In San Francisco, the price of a Mac has dropped to $1,695, and PCjrs are going for $745, more than 40% off their original list price...
Selling take-me-along machines is not without its risks, however. The market is littered with portables that never quite took off. In July, Convergent Technologies halted production on its Workslate computer, a $1,000 laptop with built-in financial-planning software. Gavilan Computers, which has introduced two different models aimed at traveling executives, is now scrambling for survival. Complains Convergent President Allen Michels: "The market for portable business computers just isn't there, at any price...