| Computer Articles |
IBM’s Personal Computer Is Now Conquering Europe
Although it has been on sale in Europe for only a year, International Business Machines Corp.'s personal Computer seems to be doing what it has already done in the U.S.: Taking the market lead and becoming the standard. In 1983, IBM sold 16% of the 280,000 personal computers that Europeans purchased, according to market researchers at IDC Europa. They expect IBM's share of this rapidly expanding business to hit 23% by 1985, displacing Apple Computer Inc. as No. 1 in the $1.9 billion European market.
Reacting to this zooming popularity, European software companies are beginning to churn out a slew of programs designed specifically to work with the MS/DOS operating system that runs the IBM PC. The software industry "has made MS/DOS the standard in the U.S., and we think they will make it the personal computer standard in Europe," declares Elserino Piol, executive vice-president of strategies and development for Italy's Olivetti, which recently introduced two new desktop computers that will run programs written for IBM's PC.
THE PC BANDWAGON. The success of any personal computer depends largely on how many good applications programs -- the software that enables a computer to perform such tasks as word processing and financial analysis -- can run on that machine. The VisiCalc spreadsheet program is credited with turning the Apple II computer into a best-seller. Because many European software publishers are writing programs for the IBM PC, a huge number of IBM PC-compatible models that can also run this software are going on sale.
As many as 60 manufacturers, including several startups and most major European computer makers, are now making computers that are based on the same desigm as the IBM PC. West Germany's Siemens has started producing a PC-compatible computer, while the Netherlands' Philips is selling a machine built by Corona Data Systems Inc., a California maker of PC-compatible products. IDC Europa estimates that by 1985, 35% of the European personal computer sales will be made up of IBM PC-compatible products.
Several U.S. manufacturers that jumped on the IBM PC bandwagon are also moving into the European market. In addition to producing its computer for European companies to sell, Corona last year set up its own European distribution network. The company, which anticipates that sales will hit $80 million this year, already gets 10% of its sales from Europe and figures the overseas market could account for 40% of its business by 1986. "Most U.S. companies are just beginning to come to Europe," says Lawrence A. Lotito, vice-president for marketing and strategic planning at Corona.
Compaq Computer Corp., which rang up personal computer sales of $111 million in 1983, its first year on the market, began shipping its 28-lb. IBM PC-compatible portable to European dealers this year. Says Eckhard Pfeiffer, vice-president for Compaq's European operations: "We have had an overwhelmingly positive response." IBM has its own portable version of the PC, but it is not yet shipping it to Europe.
A MATTER OF TIME? The fastest-developing market in Europe for PC-compatible machines is Britain, which already leads in the number of personal computers in use. Scores of new companies have sprung up to take advantage of IBM's 1981 publication of the PC's technical specifications and to churn out a vast array of products -- from software to extra memory boards -- that run on or plug into the IBM PC or PC-compatible computers. "There is an enormous marketplace for [PC-compatible] add-ons," says Nigel Wood, sales manager of Microtechnology Ltd., a southeast England dealer for IBM and Compaq. Microtechnology also makes its own back-up storage system for the PC called Honeycomb, which it supplies to dealers in Britain and Scandinavia.
The bonanza for IBM PC-compatible vendors in Europe is largely due to the fact that IBM still cannot keep up with demand for its popular computer. A shortage of parts has slowed production at IBM's Greenock (Scotland) plant, which makes all of the PCs sold in Europe. IBM's 1,200 European dealers have been on allocation since mid-March, when the company stimulated demand by lopping off as much as 20% from the PC's price tag. "Demand is far higher than what we can get [from IBM]," says Ron Weedon, managing director of Keen Computers Ltd. in Britain, where dealers cannot order more than 25 IBM systems at one time.
Once IBM irons out its manufacturing problems and catches up with demand, however, it could bode ill for makers of PC-compatible products, some industry analysts believe. Although many manufacturers market their PC-compatible machine as a higher-performing, lower-priced alternative to the IBM PC, only those companies with strong distribution networks and equally strong maufacturing capabilities -- such as Olivetti -- stand much of a chance of surviving. As costs fall, Big Blue is likely to start a price war that could swamp its smaller-volume competitors. "The PC-compatibles are living on a price advantage and IBM's inability to supply the systems fast enough," says Simon Pearce, a senior consultant at IDC Europa. "That won't last. By 1985, the PC-compatibles are basically out of a job."
|
|
|
