11.   However, there was one saving grace to his exit from the hardware business.

12.   If Apple abandons the hardware business, or sells itself to the highest bidder, what guarantee is there that the Mac will survive?

13.   If Apple does agree to a sale or merger, the new owner would have to decide whether the company would remain in the hardware business.

14.   In a recent interview with Yomiuri Shimbun, Okawa said the company was likely to abandon the hardware business altogether.

15.   It was a start so quaintly at odds with the hardware business today that Kyle Buikema, his grandson, laughs as he recounts it.

16.   Its core consumer electronics hardware business faces the grim prospect of shrinking profit margins, a trend that will be made worse by the soaring Japanese yen.

17.   Its most sensible option is gradually to get out of the hardware business.

18.   Its mainstay audio and video hardware business has slumped amid a worldwide recession and falling prices.

19.   Last In August, it announced the sale of its hardware business.

20.   Like other mainframe computer manufacturers, including IBM and Digital Equipment, Unisys has seen revenues from its core hardware business shrink sharply.