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Apple unveils special Mac
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March 20, 1997: 8:32 a.m. ET
Troubled company hopes 20th anniversary Mac will bolster faithful
From Correspondent Casey Wian
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LOS ANGELES (CNNfn) - Just days after struggling Apple Computer Inc. announced it would lay off more than 4,000 employees as part of the biggest restructuring in the company's history, the computer maker got back into business.
Apple has unveiled a 20th anniversary, limited edition model of its famed Macintosh computer. Since the system is radical in design, the company hopes it will help restore faith in the troubled company as an innovator.
The new Mac looks like it belongs in an industrial art gallery or on the set of a science fiction film: its sleek, unique -- and a glimpse of the future from a company that's been up the creek.
"I think (the new Mac) says that Apple Computer is still a vibrant innovator in our industry, that Apple Computer is still the company that's really pushing the boundaries of what we can do with technology," said David Roman, VP of corporate advertising at Apple.
Features include a flat color screen, a vertically mounted CD-ROM drive, a leather keyboard pad, a cable-ready TV tuner and a Bose sound system that outperforms many home stereos.
Apple plans to sell just 12,000 of the computers priced at $7,500. But even if Apple sells out all the systems, that would bring in less than $90 million in gross sales to a company that did $10 billion last year.
"I think this is a very smart move on Apple's part because it really demonstrates their design prowess," said Louis Mazzucchelli, Jr., personal computer analyst at Gerard Klauer Mattison. (52K WAV) or (52K AIFF)
Many of the computer's design and technological features will show up in future Apple products. Because it is limiting production, Apple says the 20th anniversary Mac should become a collectors item for hard core Apple aficionados and wealthy home users, like Hollywood superagent Jeff Berg.
Each comes with what Apple is calling its "concierge service," meaning someone will deliver and install the computer in your home or office once shipments begin in June.
The 20th anniversary Macintosh was code named "Spartacus." In the movie of the same name, Spartacus helps free his fellow gladiators from Roman slavery and attempts to lead them to a new homeland.
Apple's Spartacus has a real-life task that could prove just as difficult -- leading the company back from the darkest period in its history.
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