[104] in bcs-newton
Apple's PIE Division Outlines Electronic Publishing Strategy
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Albert Willis)
Thu Jun 3 10:23:08 1993
Date: Thu, 03 Jun 93 10:10:14 EST
From: awillis@MIT.EDU (Albert Willis)
To: bcs-newton@world.std.com
MOVED OVER PR NEWSWIRE AT 8:31 AM, EDT, THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 1993.
Contact:
Tricia Chan
Apple Computer, Inc.
(408) 974-3886
Apple's PIE Division Outlines Electronic Publishing Strategy
CHICAGO, Illinois--June 3, 1993--In efforts to grow the electronic
media market, Apple's Personal Interactive Electronics (PIE) Division
today, at a press conference, announced their intent to implement a
comprehensive strategy to enter the booming electronic publishing
market. The strategy comprises business activities in the following
areas: the development of hardware products to access electronic
information, the creation and distribution of electronic media or
titles, the development of multimedia authoring tools, expanded
electronic online services, and collaboration with partners. The PIE
Division believes that the planned publishing activities will spark
broad market growth.
The PIE Division's publishing strategy has responded to the ongoing
development of the digital information revolution. More and more,
people are reading, using, and manipulating printed text in an
electronic form. The PIE Division has fashioned its strategy to take
advantage of those opportunities and to complement its existing
personal interactive electronics and computing businesses.
"We believe that the electronic media market will play a key role in
the success of our PDA devices. The PIE Division is looking forward
to greatly expanding that market by distributing and publishing
titles, providing easy-to-use tools, and collaborating with
developers. We aim to support the widespread efforts of the
publishing community as we work together to develop this key element
of the information revolution, said Gaston Bastiaens, vice president
and general manager of the PIE Division at Apple Computer."
Families of PDA devices
The PIE Division intends to introduce new Personal Digital Assistant
(PDA) product families that will use electronic information in a
variety of forms. By combining cutting-edge digital hardware and
software technologies, these families of PDA's are intended to have a
wide range of capabilities, and are anticipated to access
electronically published information.
Title Creation and Distribution
The publishing group within the PIE Division anticipates offering
products in four primary categories including: General Reference;
Business/Professional; Education; and Entertainment. With the
development of technology, new categories of devices, and enhanced
online services, publishers will have the potential to develop a
completely new industry they can build from existing products. Apple
intends to work actively with companies to create, distribute, and
collaborate on new products in addition to creating their own.
Authoring Tools
The PIE Division plans to offer a range of authoring tools to
support and facilitate the growth of the emerging digital publishing
marketplace. The Apple Media Kit, a multimedia authoring tool from
the PIE Division, is anticipated to be available later this summer.
The Apple Media Kit is designed to improve title playback speed,
facilitate workgroup productivity, and enable authors to deliver
their titles on multiple platforms. The tools leverage off of
existing technologies such as QuickTime, Apple's multimedia
architecture software, and will support development for multiple
platforms, including Macintosh, Windows, and future consumer
electronics devices from the Apple Personal Interactive (PIE)
division.
Apple Online Services
Apple Online Services (AOS) is a rapidly growing area in the PIE
Division. This electronic service that is a 54,000 user network
worldwide that Apple developed to distribute information, technical
support information, communicate published information, and carry out
transactions according to the reader's need. Over the past six
months, AOS has announced collaboration with American Online
Services, and expanded existing information that is posted online.
Today, published information online is available from organizations
such as Reuters, RR Donnelley GeoSystems, Dow Jones, Ziff Desktop
Information, USA Today, Grolier Electronic Publishing and Tribune
Media Services.
Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Apple Computer, Inc. develops,
manufactures and markets computer systems for use in business,
education, the home, science, engineering, and government. A
recognized pioneer and innovator in the personal computer industry,
Apple does business in more than 120 countries. Apple's Macintosh
computers and LaserWriter printers were ranked highest in user
satisfaction among business users in recent studies by J.D. Power and
Associates.
-30-
Apple, the Apple logo and Macintosh are registered trademarks and
QuickTime is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
END
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