Who refused to lower the profit margins on Mac computers in 1989?
Notwithstanding these technical and commercial successes on the Macintosh platform, their systems remained fairly expensive, making them less competitive in light of the falling costs of components that made IBM PC compatibles cheaper and accelerated their adoption. In 1989, Jean-Louis Gassée had steadfastly refused to lower the profit margins on Mac computers, then there was a component shortage that rocked the exponentially-expanding PC industry that year, forcing Apple USA head Allan Loren to cut prices which dropped Apple's margins. Microsoft Windows 3.0 was released in May 1990, the first iteration of Windows which had a feature set and performance comparable to the significantly costlier Macintosh. Furthermore, Apple had created too many similar models that confused potential buyers; at one point the product lineup was subdivided into Classic, LC, II, Quadra, Performa, and Centris models, with essentially the same computer being sold under a number of different names.