Apple Executive Diery Unveils Cross-Platform Multimedia Products and
Initiatives

SAN JOSE, California--March 30, 1993 -- Ian Diery, Apple's executive vice
president of worldwide sales and marketing, today reaffirmed Apple's
intent to build the largest and most active base of CDROM users in the
industry by creating the best cross-platform multimedia technologies and
solutions for both customers and developers.

Speaking at the Intermedia Conference, Diery introduced new products and
initiatives that he said should be viewed as a signal of Apple's continued
efforts to make multimedia useful and widely available to consumers,
businesses, and educational institutions.

"Apple's involvement in multimedia technology is well known. We believe
that our integrated hardware and software platform is the ideal
environment for building multimedia content and solutions," said Diery.
"We work with the most talented developers in the industry and we intend
to reward their efforts with the most attractive base of CD-ROM users."

"Multimedia technology is among the foundations upon which Apple's long
term strategy is built and CD-ROM technology is a key element," said
Diery. "We are so optimistic about the future of CDROM technology that we
have a goal to sell 1.5 million Apple CD-ROM players by the end of this
calendar year."

In the last six months alone, Apple has introduced many products aimed at
increasing the use of multimedia in all markets. Most of Apple's Macintosh
desktop computers now offer built-in CDROMs as a standard option, and over
45 percent of customers worldwide are choosing it.

"Our commitment to making multimedia technology pervasive is absolutely
unwavering," said Diery. "You're likely to see evidence of our efforts
everywhere--in system software, in desktop computers, in mobile systems
and through innovative programs and alliances designed to move multimedia
into our living rooms, our offices and our classrooms."

New Multimedia Products Announced 

Proof of that effort came with the announcement of two new multimedia
products aimed at providing the user with a richer multimedia experience
and greater access to high-quality digital sound.

PowerCD, is a three in one CD player that functions as a CD-ROM drive, a
PhotoCD player and an audio CD player. It's the first in a line of
CD-ROM-based multimedia products from Apple's Personal Interactive
Electronics division.

The AppleDesign Powered Speakers will deliver consistent, high-quality
sound accessible to all computer users at half the price of comparable
stereo speakers. The speakers work with any personal computer platform
equipped for sound output, including all Macintosh computers. In addition,
the speakers can be attached to any CD-ROM drive, CD player or
television.

"We believe that sound is just as important as graphics, movies and
animations and Apple plans a focused effort on making sound capabilities
as rich as all the other multimedia elements," said Diery.

Apple has supported sound in its architecture since the introduction of the
first Macintosh in 1984 and continues to make advancements in sound
integration. These efforts will include new sound capabilities in the next
version of QuickTime.

Since its introduction in January 1992, QuickTime has been an enormous
success and shipments have now passed the 1 million mark. There are 300
QuickTime applications shipping. Last November, Apple unveiled a Windows
version so that even DOS users can play back QuickTime movies on their
computers. This year, the Software Publishers Association honored
QuickTime for Windows with the Best New Use of a Computer award, an award
QuickTime for the Macintosh won last year.

Leading companies and institutions such as American Airlines, 3M Corp.,
Marriott Corp., and Carnegie-Mellon College of Fine Arts have adopted
QuickTime technology for use in programs ranging from training and product
distribution to full motion video recruiting, to developing an interactive
learning environment.

Multimedia Infrastructure Key to Success 

"In addition to an aggressive multimedia product strategy, we've
established a New Media/New Markets group within the Macintosh Systems
Division to focus solely on expanding our multimedia efforts and helping
to develop new market opportunities for Macintosh technologies outside the
traditional ones we know today," said Diery. The group is headed by Apple
Vice President Satjiv Chahil.

Apple uses the term New Media to refer to an emerging industry resulting
from the convergence of the computing, publishing, entertainment,
telecommunications and consumer electronics industries.

Diery also said Apple is building momentum through a number of initiatives
and alliances designed to hasten the adoption of multimedia technology and
the subsequent development of the New Media industry.

Among these initiatives is a five-part agreement with MacroMedia, the
leading multimedia software company, to stimulate the use of multimedia in
all markets. The agreement includes:

* Three MacroMedia products available to purchasers of Macintosh with
CD-ROM drives. The offer is intended to improve access to authoring and
presentation tools.

* Jointly developed templates with Authorware Professional 2.0 in an effort
to reduce the amount of time necessary for the development of the
interactive learning applications.

* Establishing worldwide training support centers to help developers
produce world class interactive titles.

* Collaborative efforts to educate customers about multimedia solutions and
benefits through advertising, direct mail, seminars and on-line
information through services such as AppleLink, CompuServe and America
On-Line, as well as a new Multimedia Information CD.

* Channel development and recruitment activities to educate and increase
the number of authorized multimedia resellers.

Apple also announced a worldwide Multimedia Program designed to spur the
development of multimedia products and content and to strengthen the
ability of third-party partners to prosper in the New Media industry.

Finally, Kaleida Labs, the company resulting from an alliance between Apple
and IBM, is developing standards and license technology for cross-platform
multimedia products that span personal computing, consumer electronics and
the communications industries.

"ScriptX, Kaleida's multimedia scripting language, is another example of
Apple's intent to bring multimedia into the mainstream," said Diery. "We
believe cross-platform compatibility is a tremendous advantage to
developers and that we will see a vast array of innovative multimedia
titles built on ScriptX. We intend for ScriptX to play a central role in
Apple's multimedia strategy."

Apple Computer Inc, 20525 Mariana Ave, Cupertino, CA 95014
408-996-1010

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