Apple Announces QuickTime Conferencing

Open, Cross Platform Conferencing, Collaboration and Multimedia
Communications Technology

SAN FRANCISCO, California--February 7, 1995--Apple Computer today announced
a cross platform conferencing, collaboration and multimedia communications
technology that allows personal computer users to share real-time
information, images and sound anywhere in the world. Apple is currently
making the technology, called QuickTime Conferencing, available to
corporate allies who plan to create or have announced they are creating
end user applications based on the technology. QuickTime Conferencing is a
standards-based architecture that allows users to:

-- video conference and collaborate--to share and annotate text, images,
screen capture, sound, video and virtual scenes real-time among
fellow-conference participants in a variety of locations worldwide.
QuickTime Conferencing allows users to record conversations and transform
those conversations into QuickTime movies. All of this can be done on a
variety of networks such as an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN),
the worldwide internet, local area and wide area networks and Asynchronous
Transfer Mode (ATM) networks. QuickTime Conferencing can be used by a
number of simultaneous users, the total number being only by available
network bandwidth.

-- conduct cross platform video conferencing connectivity between Macintosh
computers, PCs, UNIX systems and room-based conferencing systems through
the use of the H.320 worldwide teleconferencing standard.

-- broadcast and view multimedia content--digital audio, music and video on
a local or wide area network.

Through alliances QuickTime Conferencing technology is expected to yield
product bundles such as:

-- Apple Media Conference Kit--Consisting of the QuickTime Conferencing
system extension, the Apple Media Conference application and a high
quality, color video camera.

-- Apple Media Conference Pro Kit--Consisting of the QuickTime Conferencing
system extension, the Apple Media Conference application, a color video
camera and an H.320 codec/ISDN adapter board. Being developed by
Sagem/SAT, a leading international communications product company, the
board is designed to allow interoperability between platforms (Power
Macintosh to Macintosh, PC, UNIX and room systems) and full-screen image
sharing.

--Complete Media Conference System--Consisting of an Apple Media Conference
Kit, a Power Macintosh 7100 AV, a 17 inch color monitor, external speakers
and a keyboard.

Because QuickTime Conferencing is software-based, it is easily incorporated
into new and existing third party products. As such, Apple believes that
QuickTime-compatible products could yield extremely affordable prices:

 -- Apple Media Conference Kit--under $200
 -- Apple Media Conference Pro Kit--under $1,750
 -- Complete Media Conferencing System--under $6,000

Apple is working with a wide range of companies including telcos, network,
software and hardware providers and developers to provide a range of
solutions that take advantage of the benefits of QuickTime Conferencing.
These allies have announced that they expect to make products available in
the second quarter of 1995.

From the home office to university campuses to the multinational enterprise
network, QuickTime Conferencing will allow users to communicate with
people across the country or across the world. Users won't have to worry
about whether their hardware equipment, networking equipment and
applications are compatible with the solutions being used on the other end
of the network line. QuickTime Conferencing is designed to be fully
operational with H.320 standards-based systems.

"The introduction of QuickTime Conferencing will not only extend Apple's
leadership in multimedia, but will make an important difference in the
video conferencing and collaboration market," said Rick Shriner, vice
president of Apple's Core Technologies Group. "Our goal in designing
QuickTime Conferencing was to develop a solution that allowed people the
opportunity to communicate and collaborate. By making it open in every
sense of the word, our users can metaphorically break down the walls of
their homes, schools and offices and expand the boundaries of their
lives."

QuickTime Conferencing users can have access to people, information, sights
and sounds that could never be combined before. For example:

-- An author in Tokyo, Japan and her publisher in San Francisco, California
can view and discuss cover art for a new novel. They can each view the
design at several different angles, change the visual perspective of the
artwork, and annotate the image and accompanying text for the other to
see.

-- A sixth grade class in Dallas, Texas can discuss and view the effects of
global warming with an environmental scientist at U.C. Berkeley's Lawrence
Labs in California by using QuickTime Conferencing over the internet.

-- A special effects producer in Hollywood, California can take a movie
director on the East Coast through a virtual tour of a proposed set
design. While the producer records their discussion as a QuickTime movie,
the director can pan around the scene, zoom in to look at props and view
the set design from a variety of angles.

-- A breast cancer patient and her doctor in Fargo, North Dakota can
consult with a leading oncologist in Boston, Massachusetts on her
prognosis and course of treatment. The Boston physician can view her
mammograms and annotate her medical chart as they converse.

-- A CEO's company-wide address can be broadcast for easy viewing by all
employees at their personal desktop.

Because QuickTime Conferencing allows for sharing of multimedia data and
reduces the time and expense of travel, it allows people to be more
productive than ever before.

"In the past people found video conferencing easy to resist because prices
were high and the number of people they could communicate with was
extremely limited," said Rick LeFaivre, senior vice president of the Apple
Technology Group. "Now for what we expect to be very aggressive prices,
people can conduct a media conference with virtually anyone, anywhere in
the world. A Power Macintosh QuickTime Conferencing user can share
QuickTime VR (virtual reality) images, annotate text documents and share
digital music over networks from basic rate ISDN to the internet to ATM."

Because QuickTime Conferencing is a software-based architecture,
application developers, communications providers and hardware vendors can
easily develop compatible solutions. For example, Crosswise Corporation,
the maker of Face to Face, a cross-platform document conferencing
application, developed a QuickTime Conferencing-compatible version of
their software in just one month. A QuickTime Conferencing compatible
application shares the interface of other QuickTime Conferencing-enabled
third party applications, so customers can begin using applications
quickly and easily.

QuickTime Conferencing is based on Apple's award winning QuickTime
technology. It is a conferencing architecture which allows support for
both industry standards such as H.320, as well as proprietary
architectures, and codecs such as Indeo by Intel Corporation. QuickTime
Conferencing is transport, compression and media-device independent.
Apple's built-in AV capabilities combined with the performance of the
PowerPC RISC architecture, make it easy for users to make multimedia
connections with others on the information superhighway almost as soon as
they pull QuickTime Conferencing out of the box.

"Having QuickTime Conferencing available in my home, office, and studio
literally allows me to be in multiple locations at one time--it's the next
best thing to having a Star Trek transporter," said Los Angeles-based
screenwriter and multimedia special effects consultant Michael Backes,
co-author of the screenplay for Jurassic Park and other motion pictures.
"Within the next few months, I'll be counting on QuickTime Conferencing as
the backbone for my business."

"The short and sweet of QuickTime Conferencing is that it requires less
network bandwidth and uses innovative technology," says Matt Ghourdjian,
National Director of Technology at Howrey & Simon, a 300-lawyer law firm
serving Fortune 50 clients. Howrey & Simon intends to use the product to
send QuickTime movies of depositions and re-enactments for lawyers to use
in court; for live document sharing; for consultation between partners;
and to conduct tours of the firm's Washington, DC office from Los Angeles.
"It's simply outstanding," says Chris Masten, Howrey & Simon's Technical
Litigation Support Manager.

To use the Apple Media Conference Kit on the Macintosh, users need at least
16 Megabytes of RAM, a 68040 or PowerPC-based Macintosh, System 7.5, a
network interface such as Ethernet, ISDN, Token Ring, and optionally the
ability to digitize audio and video using the built-in AV subsystem or a
third party digitizer card. To use the Apple Media Conference Pro Kit on
Macintosh, users need at least 16 Megabytes of RAM, an AV PowerPC-based
Macintosh and an ISDN connection. To communicate with QuickTime
Conferencing users from the PC and other platforms, users will need an
H.320 compatible codec on their machine, available from a variety of
vendors. QuickTime Conferencing technology is currently under development
and products using the technology have not yet been completed. Apple will
provide pricing and availability information when products are completed
and ready for release.

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

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

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