August 4, 1992 (Washington, DC)- The Software Publishers Association
announced today that North American PC application software sales for the
first quarter 1992 increased to an estimated $1.22 billion, measured at
retail. Application sales grew 19.8% over the first quarter, 1991.
Combined North American and international sales were up 16.8% for the
quarter, as international sales growth continued to lag behind North
American growth.

Most notably, sales of Windows and Macintosh applications software were up
sharply. Sales of software applications for the Windows platform were $311
million for the quarter, an increase of 98% from the same period last
year. Sales of Macintosh applications were also up sharply, growing 51% to
a total of $216 million. DOS remained the largest-selling format in the
North American market, with sales of $647 million. But sales of DOS
applications declined 4% from the first quarter 1991.

A number of newly reported categories grew most rapidly in the first
quarter. (As explained in the accompanying press release, the SPA has
revised the software industry data to show sales information for more
categories of software.) Sales of utility software reached $90 million, an
increase of 74% compared with the first quarter 1991. Sales of
presentation graphics and drawing/painting packages were both up about
45%, both on strong sales of Windows products in these categories.

Word processors remained the largest application category, with sales of
$172 million in the quarter, an increase of 4% from the year ago quarter.
The spreadsheet category was the next largest, posting a 9% increase with
sales of $165 million. Within the nearly flat word processor sales
category there has been an interesting evolution. Sales of DOS word
processors declined 47% in the quarter, while sales of Windows and
Macintosh word processors both showed solid growth for the quarter:
Windows word processor sales increased 108% over the first quarter 1991,
while Macintosh word processor sales increased 91%.

"The first quarter growth is a tribute to the continuing innovation of the
personal computer applications software industry," said David Tremblay,
Research Director of the SPA. "Although sales growth of the two largest
categories were moderate during the quarter, the industry still managed to
post solid growth on the strength of sales of applications in other
categories."

The Software Publishers Association is the principal trade association of
the PC software industry. Its 900 members represent the leading publishers
in the business, consumer, and education markets. The SPA has offices in
Washington, DC, and Paris, France.

  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
  |   From the America Online - New Product Information Services  |
  +===============================================================+
  | This information was processed from data provided by the      |
  | above mentioned company. For additional details, contact the  |
  | company at the address or telephone number indicated above.   |
  |    All submissions for this service should be addressed to    |
  |   BAKER ENTERPRISES, 20 Ferro Drive, Sewell, NJ 08080 U.S.A.  |
  +---------------------------------------------------------------+