Several Firms Seek to Sell IRS Lap-Top Computers
Demand for portable computers has been sluggish at best over the past year, but that is expected to change shortly, thanks to the Internal Revenue Service.
The IRS plans to award a $36-million contract in December or January for 15,000 lap-top size computers for use by its auditors. It will be the the largest order ever for portable computers.
Besides the initial windfall from the IRS order, the winner of the contract will probably be assured of healthy sales for some time to come, analysts said.
“You have to look down the road to what, over time, could be a multibillion-dollar federal market,” said George Colony, president of Forrester Research.
The contract is so lucrative that industry observers expect it will force International Business Machines to finally introduce a lap-top, reportedly already developed and code-named the Clamshell.
The failure of the world’s largest computer company to enter the market earlier this year, as had been widely expected, is often cited as one of the reasons that demand for lightweight, battery-operated computers has been slow to build.
When the first lap-top computers were introduced three years ago, industry analysts predicted that they would become the fastest growing segment of the entire personal computer industry.
Several manufacturers, including IBM, had already offered transportable personal computers--basically 20- to 30-pound machines with a handle on them--but the truly portable lap-tops, which weighed less than 10 pounds, were expected to appeal to a whole new class of customer.
The lap-tops were aimed at the 5 million white-collar workers who spend almost half of their working day away from the office and, so the industry assumed, wanted a computer that could be used on a plane, on a sales call or anywhere at all.
But customers also wanted a computer that was easy to read, and the liquid crystal display (LCD) screens used in a lap-top, similar to those found in digital watches, are often barely legible.
The lap-tops were also expensive, often costing twice as much as a desk-top computer, and most offered only an eight-line screen and a tiny storage capacity.
These factors and the lack of a stamp of approval from IBM caused market analysts to scale back growth estimates sharply. This year, Future Computing cut its original 1985 sales projections for lap-tops by 52% to about $400 million.
In order to wake up the market, manufacturers are working on improving the screen. LCD screens reflect light and can only be read when light shines directly on them. The user must also look straight at the screen.
