AppleLink

[lukeventura@hotmail.com (Luke Ventura)]

Apple is withdrawing its name and perhaps some of its support from the
services Quantum Computer has been developing as "AppleLink Personal
Edition."  When the Macintosh product, currently in beta test, is
released next month, the Apple 2 and Macintosh services will be merged.

Sources close to Quantum say the company also intends to merge the
Apple-related services with its Q-Link service for Commodore computers
and PC-Link for IBM compatibles.  Macintosh beta testers already have
noticed that in recent releases the Apple forum "Apple Headquarters" is
just another listing under "Computering and Software."  Nancy Beckman,
a Quantum spokeswoman said that the new integrated service will be
known as "America Online."

The relationship between Apple and Quantum is still in flux, but
spokeswoman Beckman confirmed that Apple is no longer a "full partner."
Paul Gernhardt, Quantum's manager of on-line computing services,
recently sent a memo to Apple forum leaders saying "As part of the new
agreement, we've taken a step away from Apple to gain some advantages
-- the most important is having more flexibility in marketing our
products."