Ltd. to break a long-standing corporate policy.

MCS president, Mr. Robert Burns, noted that a decision was taken by Apple to allow the Bermuda company to introduce the landmark technology ahead of the rest of the world.

Before yesterday's official worldwide launch, MCS was told it could unveil the revolutionary technology at Bermuda's computer fair during the first week of this month.

Mr. Burns said: "It was the first time the firm had ever allowed someone to pre-market a product before its official launch date. In fact, Apple sent one of their representatives to Bermuda for the fair.

"That's a positive sign that times are changing. They wanted the right exposure that the computer fair could give. It's also an indication that they see Bermuda as an important market because of the international business community here.'' And while some analysts are claiming that Apple is the No. 2 maker of personal computers today, Mr. Burns believes that Apple is already ahead of the slipping IBM.

There is real significance to the move by Apple to introduce the Power Macintosh line. It is based on a different kind of microprocessor, a chip Apple says is faster and cheaper.

With the new machines, Apple is taking a bold step. No other personal computer maker has attempted so great a change in the basic design of its machine.

Apple's future is at stake, analysts say -- and the company concedes.

"I think it's a fair statement. But I'd rather phrase it a different way: If we don't innovate, we're dead,'' said Ian W. Diery, executive vice president in charge of Apple's personal computer division.

Mr. Burns puts it this way: "Apple has bet the bank with this new technology.

This is the fastest personal computer on the market now. The others don't hold a candle to it.'' But the new machines also symbolise a much larger issue that could divide the personal computer industry in coming years. Other companies must decide whether, like Apple, to move away from a standard chip design that is tied to thousands of software programmes in order to make faster, less costly PCs.

Power Macintoshes are based on the PowerPC microprocessor that Apple developed with IBM Corp. and Motorola Inc. It's known as a "RISC'' chip, a kind of processor that makes decisions faster by using simpler instructions. Such chips are found chiefly in workstations, powerful desktop computers used by scientists and engineers.

"We're taking the high power of RISC and making it affordable and usable for the general public, which is going to give personal computing a boost as well as Apple Computer,'' Mr. Diery said.

He said Apple hopes to sell one million Power Macs in the first year, about a third of the company's projected sales of $8 billion -- an unusually ambitious target for a machine with a new chip.

Analysts say Apple has little choice but to proceed with PowerPC. The company lost a key advantage when Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software for IBM-compatible PCs made those machines as easy to use as a Macintosh.

That meant Apple could no longer charge higher prices than the competition.

Last year, the company joined the industry price war, cutting the cost of Macs to the level of rival PCs. That depressed Apple's profits, forced it to lay people off and take other cost-cutting measures. But Apple could actually become a leader in price now.

Apple decided to make its machines stand out on speed. It is now eager to have its PowerPC-based Macs compared with lower-end workstations and PCs based on the latest chip produced by industry leader Intel Corp., called Pentium.

"It's critical to Apple if they want to maintain market position and if they want to expand market position and if they want to play in emerging markets,'' said Mr. Bruce Lupatkin, an analyst with Hambrecht & Quist, a San Francisco investment firm.

Microprocessors are the chips of silicon that serve as the "brain'' of personal computers. Apple has used chips from Motorola while every other PC maker uses Intel microprocessors or clones of them. Both Intel and Motorola in the late 1970s designed PC microprocessors using a more complex architecture known as CISC.

Software programmes such as spreadsheets and word processors for the new Macintosh will run three to five times faster than those written for other PCs. Such speed also will make the new Macs superior vehicles for multimedia, the much-heralded combination of sound and video with text on a PC screen.

PowerPCs also can handle sophisticated graphics, animation and video-editing programmes now available on workstations costing thousands of dollars more.

Apple said 40 to 80 programmes written specifically for the PowerPC will soon be available. The company hopes between 200 and 300 will be ready by this summer.

A handful of other PC makers have also indicated they would build PowerPC-based machines. Beyond Apple, the chip has merited attention because IBM, the No. 1 PC maker, also plans to use it.

However, IBM hasn't announced its product strategy. The company doesn't want to harm the success of its recently revitalised PC division and is reportedly divided over operating software, programmes that control a computer's basic operations.

Apple also faces a challenge with the transition. The company must sell both Power Macintoshes and traditional Macs for several years, until it converts entirely to PowerPC chips.

Apple says it can do that by cutting prices of existing Macs and providing PowerPC upgrades, starting at $1,000 in Bermuda.