Apple to recall a million or more Macs, PowerMacs

The actual number of computers affected by the recall is uncertain and Apple declined to be specific. Industry analysts estimated the total could easily reach or top a million units.

One industry analyst compared the recall to Intel Corp.'s decision in late 1994 to replace flawed Pentium processors.

``I don't know of any other single incident other than Intel'' where a company said it would replace or repair a whole class of computer components for everyone with a problem, said Stephen C. Dube, an analyst with Wasserstein Perella Securities of New York.

But the problem with the Macs is far more serious than the math errors occasionally produced by the first-generation Pentium processors. The Mac flaw causes the computer to become inoperable.

Following a barrage of complaints from customers about the systems freezing up, Apple has agreed to repair troubled Macintosh Performas and the PowerMacs anytime over the next seven years that the computers experience the failure.

Apple will pay the cost of any repairs, but the company could not -- or would not -- say exactly how many computers might be involved or what its total cost might be.

Apple sold 4.7 million computers worldwide last year and another 370,000 in the first quarter of the year.

An industry analyst, who asked not to be named, estimated that 6 to 8 percent of all Apple sales are Performas so that the recall could affect more than 400,000 of the Performas manufactured last year and in the first quarter of this year.

But because the recall also affects Performa computers manufactured in earlier years as well, plus Power Mac models, the number of machines affected could be much greater.

``I don't have that information,'' said company spokeswoman Nancy Morrison when pressed for more details.

However, Dube estimated that Apple sells about 500,000 PowerMacs to schools each year. He also said he thought Apple's sales of Performas may be 16 to 24 percent of all sales, meaning at least 800,000 units a year.

Morrison said Apple resellers around the world were notified Wednesday of the recall, which the company is officially calling ``a repair extension program.'' The computers normally have only one-year warranties.

Apple, which reported a $740 million loss in its most recent quarter, will be facing a repair bill that could run well into the millions of dollars over several years. The cost will be ``a significant number but hardly life threatening'' to Apple, an industry analyst said.

The company intends to fix the freezing problem by replacing or repairing the logic or system boards, which are the main circuit boards in the computers, Morrison said.

The computers also have a lesser problem, which Apple will also fix at its cost, Morrison said. The monitors on some of the machines show intermittent -- and unwanted -- changes in color, she said, which can be fixed by replacing a cable.