TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Apple Predicts Lower Earnings: The price war in the personal computer business claimed its latest casualty as Apple Computer Inc. forecast an earnings decline for the second half of the company’s fiscal year. The stock of Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple dropped sharply on the announcement, and speculation arose over possible layoffs at the nation’s No. 2 PC maker. John Sculley, Apple’s chairman and chief executive, said unit shipments increased 35% in the first half of Apple’s fiscal year but that profit margins--reportedly as high as 38% in the past--fell.
