Computers: Too Many Apples on the Shelf

In the three months leading up to Christmas, the workers at Apple Computer toiled like tireless elves. Dealers, bent on avoiding a shortage of the company's products, had ordered some 800,000 machines, nearly three times as many as they had the previous Yule season. But sales were weaker than expected, creating a springtime Apple glut of some 120,000 unsold computers. As a result, the company (1984 sales: $1.5 billion) announced last week that for the first time in its eight-year history it will temporarily shut down assembly lines because of a surplus of wares. Calling the hiatus a "spring break," Apple ordered about 1,000 workers in all four of its manufacturing plants in California, Texas, Singapore and Ireland to use up one week of their vacation time. The surprise announcement pushed Apple stock down 3 3/8 a share to 21 1/2 at week's end.

Analysts said the sales slowdown is affecting both the Macintosh line and the mainstay Apple II. The company has increasingly aimed the Macintosh at the business market, in the hope of ending the IBM PC's virtual stranglehold. To boost Macintosh sales, Apple has been offering dealers cash rebates as an incentive to slash prices.