Word: ibm
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...INITIAL STRATEGY WAS TO STAY ABOVE THE fray. As American firms like Compaq , and IBM brought low-cost personal computers to its shores, NEC, Japan's foremost personal computer manufacturer, controlling about 50% of the domestic market, loftily insisted that quality should take precedence over cost. But the price pressure got to the company. NEC has announced a new low-priced line, including one model for $1,740, about half the price of an earlier comparable machine...
Aggressive American manufacturers, who currently have about 15% of the Japanese PC market, quickly countered NEC's move with more slugging. IBM, together with the Japanese office-equipment maker Canon, announced the development of a notebook PC with a built-in printer that they would sell for $2,380. Fast-growing Dell Computer opened a subsidiary in Tokyo and began its famed direct sales to customers. In Dell's line...
...quickly things change in the technology business. A decade ago, IBM was the awesome and undisputed king of the computer trade, universally feared and | respected. A decade ago, two little companies called Intel and Microsoft were mere blips on the radar screen of the industry, upstart start-ups that had signed on to make the chips and software for IBM's new line of personal computers. Though their products soon became industry standards, the two companies remained protected children of the market leader...
What has happened since is a startling reversal of fortune. IBM is being ravaged by the worst crisis in the company's 79-year history. It is undergoing its fifth restructuring in the past seven years as well as seemingly endless rounds of job cuts and firings that have eliminated 100,000 jobs since 1985. Last week IBM announced to its shell-shocked investors that it lost $4.97 billion last year -- the biggest loss in American corporate history...
...just when IBM is losing ground in one market after another, Intel and Microsoft have emerged as the computer industry's most fearsome pair of competitors. The numbers on Wall Street tell a stunning story. Ten years ago, the market value of the stock of Intel and Microsoft combined amounted to about a tenth of IBM's. Last week, with IBM's stock at an 11-year low, Microsoft's value surpassed its old mentor's for the first time ever -- $26.76 billion to $26.48 billion -- and Intel ($24.3 billion) is not far behind. While IBM is posting losses, Intel...