AST Research Takes Aim at Apple Add-On Market
Eighteen months ago, when Steven Jobs still was chairman of Apple Computer Inc. and the Macintosh was his personal computer, the people at AST Research Inc. in Irvine gambled that there would be changes at the nation’s No. 2 maker of desk-top computers.
And so, on little more than an educated hunch, AST created a business unit to develop products for Apple computers, including the Macintosh.
As events last spring proved, AST’s bet was a pretty good one. Jobs, one of Apple’s two co-founders, was ousted as chairman in May. Within months, his successor, John Sculley, proclaimed that the once-aloof company was now willing to begin working closely with business computer accessory manufacturers such as AST, the nation’s largest maker of “turbocharging” add-ons for desk-top machines.
Today, as Apple formally unveils its faster, bigger, better Macintosh Plus, AST will introduce a sophisticated storage device specifically designed to work with the newest addition to the Apple corps.
The storage device, AST’s first for the Macintosh line, represents a major new thrust for the company, which until now has built its reputation and nearly $138 million in annual sales on products designed to work with IBM desk-top computers.
“We’re investing in the future,” said Safi Qureshey, AST’s 35-year-old president. “Apple has changed, and we’re betting that Apple will remain a strong player in the computer business. . . . The company has a large installed base and a strong following.”
The new storage device is being introduced just days before IBM’s rumored announcement of its own line of add-on products for its top-of-the-line desk-top computer, the PC AT. Analysts have said that because more than 90% of AST products are made to work with IBM computers, AST would be vulnerable to a major move by the computer giant to enter the add-on market.
AST’s move into the Macintosh market also comes just days before the company is set to announce record earnings for the fiscal second quarter, ended Dec. 31.
An AST spokesman said Wednesday that projections call for earnings in excess of $8.1 million on sales of between $46 million and $48 million. In the same period last year, the company earned $4.2 million on sales of $32.3 million.
The AST product for the Macintosh is a combination hard disk and tape backup data storage system aimed at the high-end business user, the same market Apple is hoping to tap with its newest machine.
The system, whose first shipments are scheduled for next month, is expected to retail for about $7,000.
