🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <C1K6M1.K1A@utstat.toronto.edu> philip@utstat.toronto.edu (Philip McDunnough) writes:

>Well that depends on what NeXT does with its hardware. I for one would like to 
>see them get right out of the workstation/Unix label that many have placed on
>them. Their real competition, as many have said, is the Mac and the PC ( and
>as you point out itself!).

I suppose NeXT is in a bind.

NeXT's strength is in the NeXTSTEP software, but they are not selling
enough of it yet to rely on as the primary source of revenue.
NeXT just broke even, more or less, in 1992, and the most of the
revenue must have come from their hardware sales.

If NeXT were to annouce tomorrow that they will be dropping hardware
business, that would be suicide because people would be reluctant to
buy hardware that is soon to be orphaned.  Their sales of hardware
will drop immediately, and NeXT will fall into red.  So much for
the growth and let alone breaking even.

It seems to me that it is a matter of timing.  Yes, NeXT may be
a software company 5 years from now, but they can't afford to annouce
that they are dropping hardware now when the hardware business is the
only source of revenue that made modest growth and break-even in 92 possible.
When they annouce that kind of direction change, they have to be already
making enough money from software sales.  And that won't be any time
soon.


--
Izumi Ohzawa             [ $@Bg_78^=;(J ]
USMail: University of California, 360 Minor Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720
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