Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Tuesday, March 3, 1998
Apple cuts prices 17% on Power Macintosh G3
CUPERTINO, Calif. -- Apple Computer Inc. cut prices on its new Power Macintosh G3 line of personal computers by as much as 17 percent.Apple's G3 Macintosh computers, which were introduced in November, have been well received, with their strong sales helping propel the struggling company to profitability in its first fiscal quarter.
A spokeswoman yesterday said it was time in the G3's product cycle for a price cut. Analysts are also expecting other new products from Apple in the next few weeks.
The company cut the price on its G3 PowerMac Desktop with a 233-megahertz PowerPC processor, 32 megabytes of memory and 4-gigabyte hard drive by 15 percent to $1,699 from $1,999. Other cuts included a 16.6 percent reduction, to $1,999 from $2,399, in the price of a desktop computer with 266-megahertz PowerPC processor with 32 megabytes of memory, a 4-gigabyte hard drive and a CD-ROM drive.
The company also introduced new file servers based on G3 technology.
Apple's recent ads have claimed the the new G3 Macintosh is twice as fast, in some situations, as Intel's Pentium II processor.
Continental Air buying back $100 mil in stock
HOUSTON -- Continental Airlines Inc. said today it will buy back up to $100 million of its common stock or convertible securities.The buyback, which will take place over an unspecified time, will increase earnings per share by reducing the number of shares outstanding. Continental has about 51 million Class B shares and 8.4 million Class A shares outstanding. It said the convertible securities may be converted into 17.9 million Class B shares.
Continental, based in Houston, is the nation's fifth-largest airline, with full-year revenue of $7.2 billion.
AT&T proposes rules against 'slamming'
NEW YORK -- Two weeks after it was accused of switching phone customers' service without their knowledge, AT&T Corp. today proposed a crackdown by business and the government on the practice known as "slamming."The nation's largest long-distance company said it would curtail its use of outside sales agents that market its long-distance services, start a phone hotline to answer customer complaints and restrict resellers of its service.
AT&T also urged stricter measures by the Federal Communications Commission, including requiring an independent third party to verify whenever a customer requests a change in service. AT&T urged the regulatory agency to adopt rules that would compensate carriers whose customers have been slammed and penalize the responsible carriers $1,000 for each slamming incident.
The moves come after state regulators on Feb. 18 threatened AT&T with penalties for switching New York customers' phone service without their knowledge.
In other news . . .
CINCINNATI -- Federated Department Stores Inc.'s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings rose 11 percent on cost-cutting measures amid moderate holiday sales at its Bloomingdale's, Macy's and other chains. Net income rose to $379.1 million, or $1.66 a share, from $342.5 million, or $1.55 a share, a year earlier. The retailer was expected to earn $1.65 a share, based on a survey of analysts by IBES International Inc.