
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 8, 1995                   TAG: 9508080091
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

IBM TO TRY HARDER FOR HOME PC SALES

Consumers who shunned IBM's computers for their home even while depending on them at work could soon find Big Blue to be a lot more user-friendly.

International Business Machines Inc. said Monday it will refocus its efforts to take advantage of rising demand for home computers and related products such as online services.

A new division will control marketing of IBM's Aptiva home computer line, along with portable hand-held computers and online information services.

The division also will market multimedia software, an area in which IBM lacks any major products

While still the largest computer company in the world, IBM has stumbled repeatedly in the consumer market, ceding business to Microsoft Corp. and computer hardware makers that use technological standards introduced by IBM in the early 1980s.

- Associated Press

by CNB