ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 20, 1996 TAG: 9602200063
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SAN JOSE, CALIF.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Apple Computer Inc., seeking to boost its shrinking market share, said Monday it has granted rights to its Macintosh operating system to Motorola Inc.
The agreement could greatly extend the Macintosh's reach into China through a joint Motorola venture with that nation's biggest electronics company. It also is part of an Apple drive to spur the development of more Macintosh software.
Encouraging more Macintosh software is seen as critical to Apple's survival.
With Monday's agreement, Motorola becomes the largest company to ``clone'' the Macintosh. It also is the first to win the right to sublicense MacOS, the program that controls the Mac's basic operations.
That means other manufacturers that buy Motorola boards and systems - the inside workings of a computer - can make machines running Mac software without having to negotiate with Apple.
The deal is the biggest strategic move announced so far by Gilbert Amelio, who took charge of Apple earlier this month. It was in the works before he became CEO. Amelio has pledged to pursue such licensing deals aggressively.
Amelio succeeded Michael Spindler, who was ousted Feb. 2 after the company reported a loss in the final three months of 1995, forecast another for the start of 1996 and began laying off 1,300 workers.
Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., for years would not let other companies make copies of its popular Macintosh. Industry observers consider that Apple's greatest mistake, a missed opportunity to set the industry standard.
But the company, hurt by competition from personal computers built around Intel Corp. chips and Microsoft Corp. software, relented in September 1994. So far, only a handful of small companies have reached Apple licensing agreements.
Under Monday's pact, Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola will use the MacOS in its own brand of work stations intended for corporations
Motorola would not give details on how many Mac clones it would make, when they would be on the market or how much they would cost.
Pieter Hartsook, publisher of the Hartsook Letter, an Alameda, Calif.-based industry newsletter, said the most important part of the deal is Motorola's ability to let other companies use Mac software and Motorola's expansion into Chinese markets.
Motorola plans to manufacture and distribute Mac clones in China through its joint venture with Panda Electronics Group. The computers will be aimed at China's small but growing consumer and education markets, Motorola said.
LENGTH: Medium: 54 linesby CNB