NEW YORK -- Blue Chip Electronics Inc. Wednesday introduced an IBM-compatible, South Korean-made personal computer that will be sold through discount retailers and mass market outlets for a list price of $549.
John Rossi, president of Chandler, Ariz.
-based Blue Chip, unveiled the Blue Chip PC Popular at a Manhattan press conference.
The company's previous model, the Blue Chip Personal Computer, sold at a suggested price of $599.
The new computer, which the company said is fully compatible with the IBM-XT, has a memory capacity of up to 640 kilobytes and offers color graphics, a mouse and the ability to upgrade through accessories.
The $549 price includes a 512K computer, keyboard, mouse and other items, among them MS-DOS 3.2, the basic operating system program that runs the computer.
It is made by Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., a subsidiary of Hyundai Business Group, a $13 billion conglomerate with interests in heavy industry, shipping, engineering, trading and finance.
Blue Chip also announced an expanded line of peripheral equipment, also made in South Korea, that includes a $99 monochrome monitor compatible with both International Business Machines Corp. and Apple Computer Inc. personal computers; external floppy and hard disk drives, $139 and $599 respectively; a memory expansion board, $149; and a 1200-baud modem, $99.
Blue Chip executives said a major advertising campaign is planned for the new products, and noted that the list price provides room for merchants to cut prices to attract buyers.
'We're providing abundant margins, allowing (retailers) to set their own merchandising and pricing levels to attract strong customer demand,' Bryan Kerr, Blue Chip vice president of marketing and sales, said.
