|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
   |
View items related to this story
COMPAQ ABANDONS THE COUCH POTATOESIT'S FADE TO BLACK FOR Compaq Computer's PC-TV combo. Just eight months after the computer maker launched its lavishly outfited PC Theatre into consumer electronics stores to compete against Gateway 2000's Destination PC-TV, weak sales have prompted the company to pull the plug. Compaq jointly developed the $5,000-and-up device with Thomson Consumer Electronics, maker of RCA and other TV brands. The two companies developed special hardware and software that let the TV do double duty as a computer display. A cordless keyboard lets customers write E-mail or cruise the Internet while watching TV in a window on the screen. Production of new units has been halted, and the remaining PC Theatre 9100s have been sold to a mail-order company, says a Compaq spokesman. It wasn't just customer resistance to the price, either, that did in the PC Theatre. According to the spokesman, retailers weren't sure whether to market the device alongside PCs or big-screen TVs. Meanwhile, rival Gateway is doing better by selling its Destination PC TV for less money--as low as $2,500--and through the mail.
EDITED BY LARRY LIGHT & ROBERT McNATT RELATED ITEMS
|
Updated Jan. 15, 1998 by bwwebmaster
Copyright 1998, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
Terms of Use