TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
IBM Sells Out of New PC Line: The shortfall in Aptiva personal computers could cost the computer maker more than $100 million in lost revenue in the fourth quarter, analysts said. The sellout comes just months after International Business Machines Corp. posted huge losses because of a buildup of PCs in inventory for the fourth quarter of 1993. IBM said it estimated demand more conservatively in order to avoid a repeat of last year’s fiasco, when angry retailers returned more than $600 million of unsold products, analysts said. In the race for market share, IBM has been tripped up by rival Compaq Computer Corp., which nabbed first place this year with 13.4% of the market, knocking IBM from first to fourth place at only 7.9% of the market.
