FileMaker Shipments Reach 7.5 million


Not to be outdone by Apple's DVD-R announcement, FileMaker Inc. have announced that their multi-platform database software has topped the 7.5 million mark in unit shipments.

FileMaker 5.5 itself has exceeded 750,000 sales in under 12 months.

"Today IT departments are doing more with less. FileMaker is part of the answer, enabling workgroups to share and manage data and increase productivity, without demanding lots of IT cycles," said Dominique Goupil, president of FileMaker.

FileMaker 5.5, unlike Microsoft's Access, runs on platforms including Windows XP/2000, Mac OS X and OS 9, Citrix, MetaFrame, Palm OS and Linux, the latter supported by FileMaker Server. FileMaker Inc. intro'd FileMaker Mobile edition at MWSF this year.

FileMaker Inc., formerly Claris Corporation, is a fully-owned subsidairy of Apple Computer Inc. Following Steve Jobs' return to Apple in 1997, FileMaker reduced its payroll substantially and killed its old product line, such as MacWrite, Organizer, Em@iler and Impact. FileMaker Inc. has focussed on its database software, while ClarisWorks Office was rolled back into Apple's software group for development as AppleWorks.

Analysis: Makes you wonder what the Mac BU could accomplish independently of Microsoft, doesn't it? They could go really wild.

For years, Apple kept pushing Claris as an independent company, but couldn't let it be, so it kept rolling right back into Apple again. Bill Campbell made Claris a successful software outside Apple, and repeated the triumph at Intuit, developer of Quicken. Now Apple has learned to let well enough alone and FileMaker Inc. has shown it knows what the Windows - and other - software markets want. FileMaker can be Apple's non-Mac software arm, while Apple itself focuses on Pro apps, and iApps exclusively for the Mac platform. After all, they don't hurt one bit when it comes to selling hardware.