According to Apple’s marketing manager for the Mid East, Mediterranean and Africa, Apple Computers, together with its Israeli representative Yeda, is planning a configuration of the Macintosh computer for the Israeli market.
While details are not available on the nature of the package to be offered the Israeli consumer, it is being test marketed and operated in several places in Israel. Apple is scheduled to announce the product launch in September.
According to assessments, the Israeli market for Apple products amounts to $20 million per year. In the personal computer market, the company estimates that it has 5% of the market. Most of the sales revolves around the publishing business where it has 80% of the market, and research and academic institutions where Apple has approximately 30-40% of the market.
In the past, the Israeli market was considered the second largest in Europe, after France, in terms of purchasing Apple computers. However, with the massive influx of PC computers, Apple’s share of the market fell, primarily due to the high price of the Macintosh.
According to Apple’s marketing manager in Israel: "Today we have an opportunity in the home market. This market developed relatively early compared to other Western countries, and now many people are interested in replacing their computers. In the past weeks, we have begun to define a computer package for those people". He also said that despite newspaper accounts about Apple’s situation, the company is already beginning to feel results of the strategy developed by Dr. Gilbert Amelio, Apple’s new chairman. That strategy is based on three main principles: concentrating on the existing market, supplying strong computers, and developing new operating systems.
The new Apple operating system, OS 8, is scheduled to be marketed this summer. It will give the computer multiple-task and object-oriented capabilities, and means of computer-memory security. "With our market launch, we will offer a computer solution based on strong hardware and software".