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The Stogie Is Extra (9/22/99)
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Looks like that preliminary injunction against K. K. Sotec is doing its job. Sotec, as you know, is the Japanese company making and selling the Wintel-based iMac clone known as the e-one. Apple sued, and less than a month later, a Japanese court granted Apple an injunction which prohibits Sotec from "manufacturing, selling, displaying, exporting or importing" the e-one product. Note that this also might put U.S. cheapo computer kings eMachines in a bit of a bind, because while Apple's suit against them has yet to draw blood, eMachines is simply reselling the Sotec e-one in the U.S. as the "eOne." And since Sotec can no longer export the suckers, eMachines may see their supply dry up.
 The latest news, though, is that Sotec, after seeing the stock of its business partners plummet up to 25% following the issuing of the injunction this past Monday, has now announced that it plans to sell a "remodeled" version of the e-one as early as next month. This second e-one (e-two?) is promised to have "distinct" features that are "not to be confused with the iMac," according to Sotec planning department director Masayasu Ozeki. You can read more about the situation in a Bloomberg article.
We at AtAT, of course, have managed to weasel a pre-release photo of the new e-one, stolen from Sotec's design labs. As you can see, it no longer resembles an iMac in the least. "Liberated" internal memos indicate that the new e-one will sell for the same price, but will now include a mustache comb and a year's supply of oversize Bioré Pore Perfect nose strips. Finally, some real innovation from a Wintel manufacturer...
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SceneLink (1797)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 9/22/99 episode: September 22, 1999: Sotec buckles under the financial pressure of Apple's injunction, and announces a "remodeled" e-one to ship next month. Meanwhile, you might not be able to find any Apple products on the shelves, but you can sure spot 'em on the tube, and Dell continues its Appleification with plans for a consumer laptop available in a choice of two colors...
Other scenes from that episode: 1798: Not On Shelves-- On TV (9/22/99) Well, we certainly had an Apple sort of evening while planted in front of the TV last night. Let's see... Sharon was playing with a Blueberry iBook on Two Guys and a Girl, Mimi's upgraded her original Bondi Blue iMac to a Grape one on The Drew Carey Show, and the Tangerine iBook made a brief but clearly visible reappearance on Get Real... 1799: Mikey See, Mikey Do (9/22/99) Man, for a guy who once publicly said that if he were running Apple he'd "shut it down and give the money back to the stockholders," Mike Dell sure seems to be taking a lot of pages from Apple's book these days...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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