Apple announces massive loss on eve of MacWorld

Friday night, after the close of the Stock Market, Apple Computer announcedthat it would lose between $100 million and $150 million for its first quarter. The company blames slow sales of the Performa line and a shortageof PowerBooks. Performas are Apple's Macs for the home market; PowerBooksare portable computers that generally sell very well.Apple's sales slid 34 percent from the same quarter last year, when theylost $69 million. In September, Apple's share of the global computer marketslipped to 5.4%. Apple will release final figures on January 15