May 1992 North America buoys NeXT first-quarter sales by Dan Lavin Redwood City, CA: Despite a slight decline in worldwide revenues stemming from problems in Europe, NeXT's closed its first quarter March 31 having met its sales goals for North America. While the company has not yet released the results officially, sources report that North American sales were strong, while NeXT Europe, with the exception of Germany, had a disappointing quarter. The decline in Europe appeared to be continuing fallout from the failed strategies of the former European management team, which was replaced last month in a sweeping reorganization (see "Shakeup in Europe," NeXTWORLD Extra, April 1992). The North American success is seen by some NeXT representatives as a validation of NeXT's new strategies, including the mission-critical custom-application strategy spearheaded by Mike Slade, vice-president of marketing, and the direct-selling model favored by Todd Rulon-Miller, vice-president of sales. "We're seeing the focus of the last nine months paying off," said Slade, declining specific comment until final numbers are released in May. Reports on NeXT's performance in Asia were sketchy, but sources contend that revenues from that region remained about even. Sources contend that NeXT's worldwide shipments for March were between 2400 and 2600 units. This figure was helped by the shipment of the new NeXTstation Turbo Color in the last days of March.

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