04/20/19 APPLE CUTS OUT ANOTHER BAD SPOT

APPLE CUTS OUT ANOTHER BAD SPOT

HERE'S ONE FOR THE OBIT-BYTE file. Apple Computer Inc. has long had the dubious role of paving the road to riches for other companies. The Macintosh introduced the mouse and graphical user interface that have since helped machines based on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows achieve dominance. The recently scrapped Newton was the first keyboardless handheld computer, pioneering a market that's taking off for 3Com Corp.'s PalmPilot.
And now comes the ignoble end of Apple's Pippin, a set-top box for playing games, surfing the Web, and doing simple computing. Licensee Bandai Co. recently announced it would take an $88 million charge to scrap its Pippin division.
Pippin could well turn out to be Apple's most ill-timed invention. True, it was slow, lacking in software, and pricey at $600 when it was unveiled in 1996. But mainly, it was too early: Analysts now predict that PC-phobic consumers will buy 20 million set-top boxes by 2002. But Bandai sold just 42,000 units worldwide--far from the 500,000 it predicted for its first year.
The company is sitting with an additional 30,000-plus set-top boxes in inventory, which it hopes to sell for $299 in volumes of 1,000. Rather than consumers, Bandai is now selling Pippin to hotel chains and kiosk makers--and turning away bids from other companies including technology auctioneers that are looking for a fire sale.
By Peter Burrows
EDITED BY IRA SAGER