Computers: The Peanut Meets the Mac

New entries from IBM and Apple battle for attention

When IBM introduced the PCjr last fall, it seemed to many industry observers that the personal-computer game was over. Initial buyer interest in the $1,269 machine was so feverish that sales of competing models slumped months before the so-called Peanut arrived at retail stores. Many dealers felt they would be selling PCjrs as fast as IBM could turn them out. "The market is voting with dollars," said David Wagman of Softsel, the country's largest independent software distributor. "And it's saying, 'IBM will be our standard.'"

Now those predictions appear to have been too sunny....