It appears from the following New York Times story that the
country that will do most for getting micro-computers and their
applications to the "Third World" isn't France but Taiwan.  The $300
imitation Apple will do more for poorer countries than any number of LISP
machines in Paris. - J. McCarthy

By PAMELA G. HOLLIE
    HONG KONG - An Apple II home computer, with programs, was recently
advertised in New York for $1,895. That was a reduction from $2,604.
In Hong Kong, however, what looks like the same thing sells for as
little as $300.
    The growing demand for home computers has pitted Apple Computer Inc.
against Asia's irreverent counterfeiters, who have begun to turn out
computers in the equivalent of a garage.
    Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., has hired several law firms to
investigate the proliferation of Apple look-alikes.
    In Taiwan, Apple lawyers recently seized $30,000 worth of Apple-like
imitations in an effort to discourage the 35 or so manufacturers of
counterfeit computers. Taiwan produces about 2,000 of them a month,
and about 60 percent are exported to Hong Kong, Singapore and the
Philippines.
    So far, Apple has filed lawsuits against three companies, each with
a production capacity it estimates at 200 to 300 units a month. The
defendants are Sunrise Computer in Taiwan, Orbit Electronics of New
Zealand and a Hong Kong concern whose name cannot be divulged under
local law while the case is in litigation.
    Apple hopes to persuade the Asian courts to recognize certain
provisions in its copyright. The company acknowledges, however, that
it probably will have no better luck with its complaints than the
makers of Samsonite luggage, Rolex watches or Levi jeans have had
with theirs.
    The copying of many American products has reached epidemic
proportions in Asia, where copyright and patent laws vary widely and
often are enforced lackadaisically.
    According to Apple's general counsel, Albert Eisenstat, there is
little the company can do to stop the computer fakes except try to
persuade the consumer that its quality is superior to theirs and try
to stay ahead of the pirates with new technology. ''In the end,
Apple's continuing new technology is going to make those fake
machines obsolete,'' he said.
    In Hong Kong, however, there is no doubt that Apple is losing the
sales battle to the counterfeiters. The Hong Kong market for genuine
Apple home computers ''is no longer there,'' said Jeremy Lack,
general manager of Delta Communication Service, Apple's Hong Kong
distributer.
    Lack said copycat computers were outselling authentic Apples in Hong
Kong by 10 to 1, with imports of fakes from Taiwan running at about
1,000 a month. According to Lack, his sales of genuine Apple personal
computers is barely 150 a month.
    The pirates even exploit the do-it-yourself sector. ''Apple
computers are such simple machines that schoolchildren can build
them,'' said Wing Wah Yin, who operates a stereo, television and
computer store in Hong Kong. ''We sell kits to make your own own
computer.'' For less than $200, sidewalk shops here offer computer
parts for home assembly.
    Apple's aggressive attack against its imitators has at least made
many of them yield on one point. At first, the fakes looked exactly
like Apples, including the trademark of a rainbow-colored apple
missing one bite. Now most of them use slightly different brand
names, such as Green Apple.
    Of course, such names sound enough like the real one to confuse
computer buyers. And many of the fakes are marketed in a way that
implies they are genuine Apple models.
    When one Taiwan dealer realized he might have copyright problems
with his Apolo II, for example, he began making an Apolo III. The
Apple company happens to make an Apple III, a business computer that
sells for about $3,500. The Taiwan-made Apolo III, which is not a
copy of the Apple III, sells for $600.
    So far, consumers have known that most of the computers being sold
here seem to be identical to the more expensive American-engineered
versions. And they have felt confident that new American models would
in time be copied here at a low price.
    With the Apple III, however, the gap may be widening between
garage-based technology and sophisticated engineering. In any case,
the Apple III is aimed at the office market, not the home market.
    Apple says it will no longer focus on the consumer market in Asia.
According to Lack, Apple will try to sell to businesses that need
service and maintenance as well as computer programs. That market, he
said, will want the real thing.