FROM BYTES TO BITES: APPLE SWITCHES STRATEGY FROM COMPUTERS TO ORTODONTIC PRACTICE MANAGEMENTHouston, TX /DenounceNewswire/ -- May 23, 1997 -- In a surprising move, Apple Computer today announced that it had relocated to Houston, changed its name to Apple Orthodontix and announced it had abandonded the computer industry for good and was now pursuing the healthcare market. Its new stock symbol is AOI, and is on the American Stock Exchange. "I got the idea while taking my daughter to get her braces," said Gil Amelio, Apple's Chairman and CEO. "There was a PowerMac at the receptionist's desk, and another one in the dentist's office. Here was a market we'd never even known existed before." Rather than pay the orthodontist's bill, he bought the orthodontist's entire practice instead. Then, after meeting with Apple's board of directors, it was decided that Apple would switch its strategy to entirely away from manufacturing computers to managing dental-care offices. "Have you ever stopped to think about how big the tooth market is? Why, the installed base is huge. And it's worldwide, and it's growing," Mr. Amelio said. "And I don't just mean orthodontics, either." In addition to orthodonic practices, Apple plans to expand to include regular dentists's offices as well. "Forget about ethernet, now we're working with real ether!" he said.
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