The Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit
and Mr. Fred Ferber Present:
Noted Lecturer and Author
Rabbi Shmuel Irons
Waking Up To Reality
Fulfilling Relationships
Through Jewish Wisdom
Four Tuesdays in October • 8:00 p.m.
JESSICA STEINBERG SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
T
Free to the Community
JCC Maple/Drake Building
October 8
How to Raise Children
You can be proud of
October 15
Friends are Forever -
Secrets to Lasting
Friendships
October 22
How to Really Appreciate
Your "Self"
October 29
Learning to Communicate,
to Listen, to Love
Rabbi Irons is a nationally recognized Talmudic scholar
known for his ability to hold audiences spellbound with
his breathtaking knowledge and brilliant delivery. He
is celebrated for his talent for integrating modern
scholarship with his understanding of traditional sources.
In May, over four hundred people enjoyed his lecture
series, "Unlock the Jewish Secrets of a Happier Life."
Rabbi Irons designs his lectures to be accessible to all
members or our community.
Please join us for refreshments after the lecture. Call
the Adult and Family Enrichment Department at
(810) 661-7649 to pre-register for an
individual lecture or the entire series.
TCC
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After an initial period in which it caught the
imagination of the high-tech sector, Israel's 70
multimedia firms are bracing for some serious
consolidation.
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531/2 West Huron Street, Suite 211
Pontiac, MI 48342
he picture window peering
"What's happening now is that
into Superstudio's confer- after the dust has settled with the
ence/lunchroom is scrawled initial excitement of multimedia,
with a caricatured coffee people realize that it's a project
cup and the name CD Diner.
for companies with deep pockets,"
It's a takeoff of Central Perk, says Menachem Hasfari, presi-
the fictional coffeehouse featured dent of Edusoft, an educational
on "Friends," the popular TV software firm whose speciality is
show about six single friends liv- teaching English to non-English
ing in New York. And the twen- speakers.
tysomething-aged staff members
Edusoft has been around since
sitting around the table uphold
1987, first as a department of
that image, portraying young, Degem Systems Ltd., then going
driven creative types dedicated public in 1992, with Degem tak-
to their cutting-edge multimedia ing a 63 percent slice of the pie.
company.
In the first quarter of 1996, its
It's not false advertising. Su- sales dropped 14 percent to $1.7
perstudio's 150 staff members million, from $2 million during
work around the clock to keep up the same period last year.
with their edutainrnent and ref-
When these earnings were re-
erence products, and it's a paral- leased in May, the drop in sales
lel pace at similar firms was attributed to delays in re-
throughout Israel.
ceiving orders from Latin Amer-
For the past few years, multi- ica — some of the 35 countries
served by Edusoft.
The speed with
which an Israeli mul-
timedia firm's bal-
ance sheets were
affected by economic
mayhem in South
America — then reel-
ing from the so-called
tequila effect which
followed Mexico's
peso crisis — was
telling proof of the
burgeoning indus-
try's vulnerability.
In the last six
months, according to
Hasfari, six of the
largest educational
media producers have been software companies, including
rapidly multiplying, until the Sierra Online and the Learning
number of firms peaked at about Company, have been snatched
70. Since then, however, the in- up. Multimedia's moment of vin-
dustry that was originally hailed dication won't arrive, he believes,
as the latest hi-tech hot-shot is until the "big boys" enter the fray.
now experiencing a downturn,
Who are the big boys? Pub-
and the Israeli experts are look- lishing giants Time Warner and
ing for explanations And solu- Bertelsmann, to name but two,
tions.
are waiting for profits potential-
While this industry's firms ly in the multi:millions, while the
may be dealing with almost any- small companies duke it out over
thing, from industrial glossaries development.
to baseball encyclopedias, they
In today's market, with 120
share that familiar financial million personal computers in
predicament of locating and rais- homes worldwide, one third of
ing venture capital.
which have CD-ROM capacity,
The larger firms have cashed the average consumer buys about
their chips and embarked on a one CD-ROM per year, at a price
variety of solutions, from strate- of approximately $25. Just 1 per-
gic partnerships to mergers and c ent of 30,000 CD-ROMs are ac-
acquisitions. The smaller firms t ually awarded consumer-venue
aren't always as lucky and end s helf space. Not great odds.
up selling out or going bankrupt,
The average cost of producing
usually choosing the former, a CD-ROM in the U.S. runs be-
clearly the lesser of the two evils.
CONSOLIDATION
page 62 .
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