The US Software Publisher’s Association paints a rosy picture of an industry far from recession – but its latest report covers the second quarter of 1990, when things looked rather better than they do now. The report, compiled from returns from its 670 members shows MS-DOS and Macintosh sales each up 27% on the figures for a year ago, with word processor add-on utilities leading the way with an 89% gain. Local networking and other communications software came next with a 76% rise. Spreadsheet sales rose 51.5%, word processing software rose nearly 55% and graphics software 44% – but while there was a 21.1% increase for MS-DOS word processors, sales of Macintosh word processor software fell 47.6% in the quarter. MS-DOS, Windows, Macintosh, Unix, OS/2, Amiga and even Apple II software all recorded gains, but the big loser was software for the Commodore International Ltd 64 and 128 machines, sales of which fell 32.7%. Apple II software sales in the US gained over 10% for the first half of 1990, Amiga software sales were up 34% – with word processor software sales for the Amiga, up by 80%. Microsoft Windows software sales rose 89% for the first half, with US sales increasing 101% in the second quarter alone. In the battle with Unix, starting from a very low base, OS/2 software sales rose 850%; Unix sales were up over 400% – but relational database sales in the US saw a 20% slump. The biggest rise in international sales was for local networking and communications software, which put on over 200% for the first half. Educational software for the MS-DOS market rose nearly 50% against 13.7% on the Apple II. Total European sales for the quarter were up 47.5% to $210.5m, with Spain and Portugal leading the way, while Australian sales reported by 16 firms were up 16% by unit and value at $18.4m in total.
