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Power Computing Corporation (often referred to as Power Computing) was the first company selected by
Apple Inc Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Computer ...
to create
Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...
-compatible computers (" Mac clones"). Stephen “Steve” Kahng, a computer engineer best known for his design of the Leading Edge Model D, founded the company in November 1993. Power Computing started out with financial backing from
Olivetti Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been owned b ...
and Kahng. The first Mac-compatible (clone) PC shipped in May 1995. Like Dell Computer, Power Computing followed a direct, build-to-order sales model. In one year, Power Computing shipped 100,000 units with revenues of $250 million in the first year. Power Computing was the first company to sell $1,000,000 of products on the Internet. Power Computing released upgraded models until 1997 with revenues reaching $400 million a year. The Mac clone business was stopped after
Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. Jobs was also the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder o ...
returned as interim CEO of Apple in July 1997. In September, Apple bought the core assets of Power Computing for $100 million in Apple stock and terminated the Mac cloning business.


History

Power Computing Corporation was founded on November 11, 1993 in
Milpitas, California Milpitas (Spanish for or little cornfields) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, part of Silicon Valley and the broader San Francisco Bay Area. Located on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, it is bordered by San Jose, California, S ...
, backed by $5 million from Olivetti and $4 million from Kahng. At the MacWorld Expo in January 1995, just days after receiving notice he had the license to clone Macintosh computers, Kahng enlisted Mac veteran Michael Shapiro to help build the company. Shapiro helped to develop the original logo and brand and worked with Kahng to build the initial management team. Power Computing opened manufacturing and operations offices in Austin, Texas at the recently abandoned facilities of CompuAdd and engineering offices in
Cupertino, California Cupertino ( ) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, directly west of San Jose, California, San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The ...
, staffed largely by members of Apple's original
Power Macintosh The Power Macintosh, later Power Mac, is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Inc., Apple Computer, Inc as the core of the Mac (computer), Macintosh brand from March 1994 until August 2006. Described by ''Mac ...
team. In 1997, PCC relocated its headquarters to a location directly across
I-35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexico–Uni ...
from Dell's main campus, and remained there until Apple acquired PCC's assets in 1997. Kahng set out to create a simplified Mac design that made it cheaper and faster to produce the machines. He then targeted the mail-order market, where Power Computing could get a quicker return on its money than it could by selling through distributors. : "With direct mail, you get your money back in days by credit card instead of the 30 to 60 days it takes for the resale channel to repay," Kahng said. At that time, Apple was leaning towards giving licenses to big-time computer makers. Initially, even with Kahng's reputation as a "master cloner", getting Apple to take him seriously was a challenge. He ended up bringing Olivetti people with him to meetings. Apple engineers gave him the help he needed to make a Mac prototype. The team reduced the size of the Apple main
circuit board A printed circuit board (PCB), also called printed wiring board (PWB), is a laminated sandwich structure of conductive and insulating layers, each with a pattern of traces, planes and other features (similar to wires on a flat surface) ...
so that it could fit into a standard PC box. They also used off-the-shelf PC power supplies and monitors. A few days before the end of the year, it was announced that Apple Computer picked Power Computing to be its first Macintosh clone maker. Jim Gable, Apple's director of Mac licensing was quoted in ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' saying " ahngis clever and fleet of foot. We want him to succeed." Power Computing's goal was to have clones available for as little as $1,000 each starting in March or April 1995. John C. Dvorak, a computer columnist at ''MacUser'' magazine, remarked, "Apple is not going to know what hit them. Stephen Kahng is tenacious." When the machine was released,
Macworld ''Macworld'' is a digital magazine and website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG. History ''Macworld'' was founded by David Bunnell and Cheryl Woodard (publishers) and Andrew Fl ...
's review said : “The first clones work as well as Apple's Macs. That alone represents an auspicious start to Apple's reversal of its decade-long go-it-alone strategy. Although these first clones introduce no compelling new technologies, breathtaking features, or stunning industrial designs, they prove that Mac clones can be legitimate alternatives to Apple's own Macs.”


Initial machines

The initial clones were available in desktop and
tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
configurations, and were based on the
PowerPC PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...
601 80 
MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...
, 100 MHz and 110 MHz microprocessors. They were comparable to Apple Computer's Power Macintosh 7100 and 8100 class of computers. Pricing ranged from $1,995–2,899. : “Power Computing's system design (except for the clock-oscillator chip that controls the CPU and bus speed, the two models' motherboards are identical) suggests a thoughtful, sophisticated approach. This sophistication derives, in part, from help from Apple, as well as from the fact that two key Apple engineers recently joined Power Computing.” Unlike Apple at the time, Power Computing pressed for direct sales. After a customer placed an order for a semi-customized configuration, the system was delivered the next day. Following the delivery of the system, Power Computing called the customer to surmise their needs and offer technical support and customer service. In addition, Power Computing set a goal of a 3-minute response time for all inquiries. In May 1995, shortly after the original clone announcement, Power Computing teamed up with
Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...
based Metrowerks to offer the Power Computing CodeStation. The CodeStation was a package consisting of the recently announced Power Series clone, rebranded and bundled with the latest PowerPC version of
CodeWarrior CodeWarrior is an integrated development environment (IDE) published by NXP Semiconductors for editing, compiling, and debugging software for several microcontrollers and microprocessors (NXP ColdFire, Freescale ColdFire, ColdFire+, Kinetis, Qori ...
(CW6 Gold which introduced Magic Cap support). CodeStations were sold through Metrowerks at discounted developer prices and it is unknown exactly how many units were sold. At the end of July 1995, Power Computing announced that it had successfully ramped the volume production capability of its Power 100 system. The efficiencies provided by volume production allowed Power Computing to lower the base configuration price of a "Power 100 Starter System" to $1,699. In addition, the company instigated a comprehensive quick-ship program that allowed popular configurations to ship the same day. Power Computing advertised models up to the "Power 120 XL", a $5,499 machine built around the PowerPC 601+ chip, a 2GB
SCSI Small Computer System Interface (SCSI, ) is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices, best known for its use with storage devices such as hard disk drives. SCSI was introduced ...
hard drive, 17 inch
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monitor, 4X-speed
CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...
, built-in
Ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...
, and 32MB RAM. At the end of October 1995, Power Computing introduced the world's fastest Macintosh-compatible computer, the PowerWave, based on the PowerPC 604 microprocessor. Per an article in the ''
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'', Power Computing said its machine would far outperform
Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
-compatible machines based on Intel's
Pentium Pentium is a series of x86 architecture-compatible microprocessors produced by Intel from 1993 to 2023. The Pentium (original), original Pentium was Intel's fifth generation processor, succeeding the i486; Pentium was Intel's flagship proce ...
processors. At the early 1996 Macworld trade show in San Francisco, Power Computing found itself the star attraction because Apple was so preoccupied with its mounting financial woes that then-CEO
Michael Spindler Michael Spindler (22 December 1942 – September 5, 2016) was a German businessman who was president and CEO of Apple from 1993 to 1996. Spindler was born in Berlin, Germany. Career Spindler graduated from engineering at Technical University in ...
cancelled an appearance. PCC got another break when a computer firm that had spent $170,000 erecting an immense booth pulled out at the last moment, allowing Mr. Kahng to pick up the prime exhibiting space for $30,000. At that Macworld, the PowerCurve — a line of mid-range, CPU-upgradeable Mac OS systems based on the PowerPC 601 and the industry-standard PCI expansion bus — was introduced. Unique to the PowerCurve 601/120 was the native support of VGA–style monitors.


Market success

In May 1996, just one year after Power Computing started selling Mac clones, the company reached the 100,000 units sold milestone. The number of employees had grown to 300. And as noted in an article in ''The Wall Street Journal'' (WSJ) by Jim Carlton, Power CEO Steve Kahng “still hasn’t taken his (golf) clubs out of the bag” (he had vowed not to play another round of his beloved golf until he had shipped the first 30,000 Mac clones). That same WSJ article noted that one-half of Power Computings's customers represent people who would have otherwise purchased a computer from Apple. The others are people who might have bought a non-Mac computer. : ''There is no question Apple is losing sales to us, but we are also expanding the Mac market," says Geoff Burr, Power Computing's vice president of sales and marketing.'' : ''Still, unless Apple can rapidly expand its cloning operations -- a goal of new Apple CEO Gilbert Amelio -- to boost flagging Mac market share and generate enough new licensing and software revenue to offset sales lost to cloners, Apple could see its belated cloning campaign backfire.'' In June 1996, Kahng persuaded a unit of Lockheed Martin Corp. to buy 3,000 of his computers rather than Apple's. Though a longtime Apple customer, Lockheed Martin said Power beat out Apple's bid by agreeing to such extras as loading in special engineering software before shipping the machines out, a request that Apple declined. This was the largest sale in the history of Macs or Mac-compatible computers at the time. Kahng was able to leverage his strong relationship with
IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
to get access to the fastest PowerPC processors sooner than anyone else. As a result, starting in April 1996 and continuing through 1997, Power Computing regularly put out the fastest computer system in either platform (Mac OS or WinTel). * In April 1996, Power Computing unveiled the PowerTower, based on the 180 MHz and 166 MHz PowerPC 604 processor (announced by IBM on the same day). These were the fastest Mac OS personal computers available at the time. * Three months later, in July 1996, Power Computing was back with an even faster system – the PowerTower Pro which marked the worldwide debut of the new PowerPC 604e microprocessor featuring
clock speed Clock rate or clock speed in computing typically refers to the frequency at which the clock generator of a processor can generate pulses used to synchronize the operations of its components. It is used as an indicator of the processor's ...
s of up to 225 MHz, making the PowerTower Pro the fastest personal computer available. * May 27, 1997 – PowerTower Pro 250 outperformed all comparable Pentium and
Pentium II The Pentium II is a brand of sixth-generation Intel x86 microprocessors based on the P6 (microarchitecture), P6 microarchitecture, introduced on May 7, 1997. It combined the ''P6'' microarchitecture seen on the Pentium Pro with the MMX (instruc ...
class Windows-based systems that were shipping at the time. * Aug. 4, 1997 – PowerTower Pro G3 275 and PowerTower Pro G3 250 would have been the world's first desktop systems using the new PowerPC generation of processors except that they were never built. By 1997 Power Computing had reached $400 million in annual revenue, and reviews consistently rated its products as better than Apple's. At Macworld Expo 1997, the company presented a military-themed campaign that urged the Mac faithful to “Fight Back.” Power Computing employees were outfitted in camouflage. The video wall looped “why we fight” propaganda. And “Steve Says” posters, flyers and T-shirts were ubiquitous inside the
Moscone Center The George R. Moscone Convention Center (), popularly known as the Moscone Center, is the largest convention and exhibition complex in San Francisco, California, United States. The complex consists of three main halls spread out across three bl ...
as well as in the streets surrounding the convention center (where Power Computing-logoed
Hummer Hummer (stylized in all caps) is an American brand of Pickup truck, pickups launched in 1992 when AM General began selling a civilian version of the M998 Humvee. Although discontinued in 2010, Hummer returned as a model under GMC (automob ...
s, with bullhorns blazing, circled the center). Stickers and flyers featuring Steve Kahng are prominently featured in the TV show, '' Austin Stories''.


Acquisition of assets by Apple

In early 1997 Apple indicated that it wanted much higher license revenue from clonemakers, and other conditions. In June it and Power Computing tentatively agreed to new terms. The deal was not finalized before the July 9 departure of Apple CEO Gil Amelio, and his ''de facto'' replacement
Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. Jobs was also the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder o ...
sought to end or greatly diminish the clone program. Jobs believed that Apple had started to license clones too late to repeat the business model pioneered by
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
in the early 1980s. : "Apple has to let go of this ghost and invent the future," Jobs said. Instead of expanding the share of the market that used computers based on the Macintosh system, the decision to license clones simply ate into Apple's own sales of hardware, he said. At MacWorld Boston in August, Power Computing President Joel Kocher unsuccessfully tried to convince attendees to rally against Apple's stiff new licensing policies. He and other executives resigned soon afterwards as Power Computing's board chose to be acquired instead. On September 2, 1997, Apple Computer bought key assets of Power Computing for more than $100 million in Apple stock and roughly $10 million in cash.Apple purchases Power Computing
CNET. 1997-09-02.
As part of the deal, Apple got back the license that allowed Power Computing to sell Macintosh-based machines, also obtaining "the right to retain key employees with expertise in direct marketing, distribution, and engineering". Some of them helped created Apple's next generation of technologies like the
iMac The iMac is a series of all-in-one computers from Apple Inc., sold as part of the company's Mac (computer), Mac family of computers. First introduced in 1998, it has remained a primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since and evol ...
. Contrary to impressions given by some reporting and the title of Apple's own press release, Apple did not acquire Power Computing itself. Indeed, Power Computing merely emphasised the withdrawal of its license, reprinting the Apple press release, and encouraging potential buyers to hurry while stocks of its clone models remained. The company had planned to offer Wintel clones before losing the Apple license, and announced its PowerTrip line of Wintel laptop computers. However, regulatory delays to the Apple deal, delaying receipt of the agreed funds, and lawsuits from suppliers forced the company to downsize, and with the PowerTrip line subsequently cancelled due to "lacklustre sales and manufacturing problems", the company was described as being in "dire straits", looking "to find a new way to sell, manufacture and service" and hoping to introduce a new strategy and new products in the spring of 1998. Parts shortages forced the company to halt production in 1997, and by late January 1998, the last of Power Computing's physical assets were auctioned off. Power Computing shareholders were mailed Apple Computer shares representing their ''pro rata'' share in the now-defunct corporation. Anyone who had a Power Computing Macintosh clone was given a free upgrade up to Mac OS 8.1 by Apple under the Power Computing name. Ironically, this made Power Computing one of two Macintosh clones to get a Mac OS 8 upgrade disk (the other was UMAX, which got it under an agreement with Apple). Apple continued to provide technical support for any Power Computing machine until December 31, 2004.


Machine upgrades

Power Computing's machines were one of the most popular Macintosh clone to ever be made. Any 603 or 604 equipped Power Computing machine can officially go up to Mac OS 8.1 due to Apple providing users of Power Computing machines Mac OS 8 upgrade disks as part of the acquisition (most other Macintosh clones can only officially go up to Mac OS 7.6). However, despite officially only going up to Mac OS 8.1, any 603 or 604 equipped Power Computing machine is capable of being upgraded up to Mac OS 9.1, although this is not officially supported by Apple. Powered by a PowerPC 603e or a 604e processor, Power Computing's machines cannot run
Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
natively, but with the addition of a G3 or G4 processor upgrade and the use of XPostFacto 4.0, they could run several versions of Mac OS X up to 10.4 Tiger, with some limitations. A number of Power Computing community websites have appeared over the years.


See also

* Macintosh clone


Notes


References

* Power Computing press releases (issued via BusinessWire) * Markoff, John. "For Apple, Clones and Competition." The New York Times 29 December 1994 * Egan, Diane. "Mac Attack Begins: Apple Licenses OS." Electronic Buyers' News 2 January 1995 * Rebello, Kathy. "IT JUST MAY BE THE YEAR OF THE APPLE It's leaner, it's signing up clone makers-and the Intel and Windows woes won't hurt a bit." Business Week 16 January 1995 * Piller, Charles. "First clones. (Power Computing Macintosh clones; other upcoming clone machines discussed)." Macworld 1 April 1995 * Carlton, Jim. "King Kahng: Master of Cheap Clones May Hold Key to Fate Of Apple Computers --- He Is Making First Copies Of the Fabled Macintosh, Which Risks Sales Loss --- `We Want Him to Succeed'." The Wall Street Journal 14 April 1995 * Rizzo, John. "Clones' corporate clout. (compatibility of upcoming Macintosh clones with PC networks used in business)." MacUser 1 May 1995 * Crabb, Don. "Note to Power Computing: make portable clones, too. (open letter to Power Computing CEO Stephen Kahng beseeching better portable designs than Apple is producing)." MacWEEK 15 May 1995 * Moran, Susan. "Apple seen getting boost from Mac clones in South Korea." Reuters News 24 September 1995 * Ladendorf, Kirk. "MAKING WAVES; With today's introduction of its PowerWave machines, Power Computing steps up from mere Macintosh clonemaker to technological innovator." Austin American-Statesman 30 October 1995 * Ristelhueber, Robert. "Power Computing banks on aggressive designs and mail order channel. (Company Business and Marketing)." Electronic Business 1 November 1995 * Ladendorf, Kirk. "Power Computing locates space it needs in Round Rock." Austin American-Statesman 29 December 1995 * Newsbytes. "Macworld - Power Computing Offers New Mac Clone" 11 January 1996 * Ryer, Kelly and Pearlstein, Joanna. "Power halts meltdown after operations crisis." MacWeek 25 March 1996 * Carlton, Jim. "Power Computing Gains Towering Presence as Cloner --- CEO `King Kahng' Snatches Some of Apple's Revenue as It Copies the Mac." The Wall Street Journal 20 May 1996 * Burrows, Peter. "Up Front: SILICON SAGAS APPLE COULD LEARN AT ITS CLONE'S FEET." Business Week 5 August 1996 * Walsh, Jeff. "Apple freezes Mac OS May halt licensing OS to third parties." InfoWorld 25 August 1997 * Ortiz, Catalina. "Apple buying Macintosh clone maker Power Computing for $100 million." AP Newswires 2 September 1997 * Markoff, John. "Apple Decides Cloning Isn't Its Route Back To Profitability." The New York Times Section D; Business/Financial Desk 3 September 1997


External links

*
All Power Computing Mac Clones
(at EveryMac.com)
Power Computing: Fighting Back for the Mac or Stealing Apple’s Customers?Power Computing ads
{{Apple Inc. 1998 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 1993 American companies disestablished in 1998 Apple Inc. acquisitions Computer companies established in 1993 Computer companies disestablished in 1998 Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct computer systems companies Macintosh clones