Ibm Buys Unison Software, Debuts Home Pc Line

International Business Machines Corp. moved Monday to shore up its position on several competitive fronts, buying a niche software company and unveiling new low-priced computers for the home market. The new home computers, which start as low at $1,199, represent IBMs response to an increasingly price-competitive home computer market, where Compaq Computer Corp. and others have introduced systems for less than $1,000. IBM took several steps to cut costs for the lowest-priced models, like using chips from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. instead of Intel Corp . In an unprecedented move, IBM also turned over some assembly work to Acer Inc., the first time it has outsourced assembly for a computer line. We knew we had to be in under the $1,500 level, IBM spokesman Richard Sherwin said. The lowest combination now comes to about $1,400 with a monitor. As recently as a month ago, for full packages there was nothing less than $2,100.