Apple Announces PlainTalk Software Now Available Through Retail Channels

Product Created as a Result of Customer Demand

CUPERTINO, California--April 9, 1996--In response to customer demand, Apple
Computer, Inc. today announced that virtually any Apple Macintosh computer
can now have the power of speech. The company has begun selling its
renowned PlainTalk text-to-speech and speech recognition software through
retail channels. Previously, the PlainTalk software and microphone were
only available as part of select Power Macintosh systems and Mac OS
upgrades. The new software product will be distributed by Claris
Corporation.

PlainTalk is a collection of software from Apple that enables Macintosh
computers to speak written text and respond to spoken commands. There are
three components to PlainTalk 1.4.1: English Speech Recognition, English
Text-to-Speech, and Mexican Spanish Text-to-Speech.

"Customers have been asking us to sell PlainTalk software as a standalone
product for some time now," said Carlos Montalvo, director, interactive
products and technology for Apple Computer. "We are responding to those
requests by extending the benefits of PlainTalk software to all Macintosh
customers."

The Mac Speaks Back

Apple is a leader in text-to-speech technology and offers a wide variety of
computer-generated voices which are scalable for naturalness and
intelligibility, memory size and processor speed. The 22 different voices
range from the best quality in the industry, to the most efficient in size
and speed, to the most fun and entertaining. Since the voices are
synthesized, there is no need to store prerecorded sound files on the hard
drive. Using Apple's speech synthesis, game developers, educational
software developers, and CD-ROM developers can have any amount of text
read aloud from their applications without sacrificing valuable disk space
and RAM.

PlainTalk software includes three separate components, each with its own
installer, allowing users to customize their PlainTalk experience: English
Speech Recognition, English Text-to-Speech, and Mexican Spanish
Text-to-Speech.

ENGLISH SPEECH RECOGNITION

The first component of the PlainTalk software package is English Speech
Recognition, which includes speakable items. When installed on a Power
Macintosh running system software version 7.5 or later, the user's
computer has the ability to respond to spoken commands. With the speakable
items utility, spoken commands can be used to execute common desktop tasks
such as opening files and folders, starting applications, switching
applications, and closing windows.

ENGLISH TEXT-TO-SPEECH

Installing the English Text-to-Speech software expands the capabilities of
a Macintosh computer and provides the user with the ability to hear the
computer read text out loud. With the latest version of PlainTalk, the
user will be able to utilize the text-to-speech technology on any
Macintosh or Power Macintosh model running system software version 6.0.7
or later of the Mac OS. Also, PlainTalk text-to-speech includes its own
speech control panel that allows the user to select a system-wide default
voice and speech rate.

MEXICAN SPANISH TEXT-TO-SPEECH

PlainTalk also allows the bilingual user to key in Spanish text, and with
many Macintosh programs, hear the text read aloud with a Mexican accent.
The Mexican Spanish Text-to-Speech component also comes with its own
installer and runs on system software version 7.0 or later of the Mac OS.

Minimum System Requirements

For speech recognition: any Apple Power Macintosh computer with 16-bit
sound, system software version 7.5 or later; 1.5MB RAM beyond what the
rest of the system software needs; a microphone (included with PlainTalk
1.4.1).

For text-to-speech: any Apple Macintosh computer, system software version
6.0.7 or later; 300K of random access memory (RAM) beyond what the rest of
the system software needs; and 5 megabytes (MB) of hard disk space.

Availability and Pricing

The estimated retail price for Apple PlainTalk 1.4.1 (M2844LL/B) is
US$49.00. It may be purchased through any Apple authorized reseller, or by
calling 1-800-950-5382.

Apple Computer, Inc., a recognized innovator in the information industry
and leader in multimedia technologies, creates powerful solutions based on
easy-to-use personal computers, servers, peripherals, software, and
personal digital assistants. Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Apple
(NASDAQ: AAPL) develops, manufactures, licenses and markets solutions,
products and technologies for business, education, consumer,
entertainment, scientific and engineering and government customers in over
140 countries.

If you are considering the purchase of an Apple product and would like to
have product information faxed to you, please call 1-800- 462-4396 in the
U.S. or (415) 598- 4329 in Canada. If you do not have a fax machine or
would like to locate an Apple authorized reseller near you, please call
1-800-538-9696. Customers outside the U.S. should contact their local
Apple representatives for information.

Apple's home page on the World Wide Web: http://www.apple.com/
 
 =========================================================
 From the 'New Product News' Electronic News Service on...
 AOL (Keyword = New Products) and Delphi (GO COMP PROD)
 =========================================================
 This information was processed from data provided by the
 company/author mentioned. For additional details, please
 contact them directly at the address/phone# indicated.
 Trademarks are the property of their respective owners!
 =========================================================
 All submissions for this service should be addressed to:
 BAKER ENTERPRISES,  20 Ferro Dr,  Sewell, NJ  08080  USA
 Email:   rbakerpc@aol.com   --or--   rbakerpc@delphi.com
 =========================================================
