FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press contacts:
Apple Computer Japan
Atsuko Torigoe
torigoe@asia.apple.com
Apple Computer, Inc.
Ken Smith
(408) 974-5675
kensmith@apple.com
Metrowerks Co., Ltd. - Japan
John Cheuck
(81-3) 3780-6091
john@metrowerks.com
Metrowerks Inc.
Cynthia Fray
(512) 873-4758
cynthia@metrowerks.com
METROWERKS & APPLE COMPUTER FINALIZE DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT TO DELIVER
DEVELOPMENT TOOLS FOR PORTING MAC OS APPLICATIONS TO RHAPSODY
Metrowerks to deliver CodeWarrior IDE for Rhapsody and Rhapsody porting
technology through new development tool, CodeWarrior Latitude
MACWORLD TOKYO, Japan-February 21, 1997-Metrowerks Inc. (NASDAQ: MTWKF,
TSE/ME: MWK) and Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) today announced they
have finalized their development agreement by which Metrowerks will provide
new software development tools that will facilitate the transition from the
current Mac OS to Apple's next generation operating system, code-named
"Rhapsody". Metrowerks will deliver a Rhapsody-hosted version of
CodeWarrior and introduce a new product, CodeWarrior Latitude, that will
allow developers to more rapidly port Mac OS applications to Rhapsody.
"Apple and Metrowerks are focused on making the transition to Rhapsody a
winning proposition for developers," said Ellen Hancock, executive vice
president technology office of Apple Computer . "We are aggressively
pursuing all areas of development where working together can make a
positive difference to the Macintosh developer community."
"Metrowerks and Apple are working in step to make tools available as soon
as possible," said Greg Galanos, president and chief technology officer of
Metrowerks. "This agreement between Metrowerks and Apple is a reflection of
our intent to work closely together to the benefit of the Macintosh
developer community."
CodeWarrior Latitude will be released later this year as a result of
Metrowerks' recent acquisition of the principal assets of The Latitude
Group, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., which include a porting library that
allows Mac OS applications to be ported to UNIX-based operating systems.
Metrowerks will retarget this porting library to Rhapsody which will allow
programmers to take Mac OS applications written using the Mac OS APIs,
MacApp, or PowerPlant, link them with the Latitude library, and deliver
applications that take advantage of the advanced operating system services
- preemption, memory protection, and multithreading - of Rhapsody without
rewriting their code. This will allow Mac developers to conserve their
investment in their codebase and move their code and their customers to
Rhapsody when it becomes available. With CodeWarrior Latitude, developers
should be able to complete their first port of a stable Mac application to
Rhapsody within a month.
CodeWarrior Latitude is the most recent of a series of steps Metrowerks is
taking - in concert with Apple - to accelerate its support for Rhapsody and
enable developers to quickly and easily support Apple's next generation
operating system. Not only will Metrowerks deliver a full CodeWarrior
solution comprising compilers, programming tools and debuggers for the
development of applications for both Mac OS and Rhapsody, but each phase in
Metrowerks' strategy should ensure a smooth transition from the Mac OS to
Rhapsody.
First, Metrowerks will ensure that its compilers will build Rhapsody
applications when hosted in CodeWarrior for Mac OS and Apple's Project
Builder for Rhapsody. Metrowerks expects to have Objective C support added
to the CodeWarrior C compiler hosted in CodeWarrior for Mac OS by the Apple
Worldwide Developers Conference in May 1997. Next, Metrowerks will
implement interoperability between Objective C objects, and C++ and Object
Pascal objects in September, 1997. Metrowerks will deliver these new
CodeWarrior programming tools as part of its regular CodeWarrior for Mac OS
subscription at no additional charge to subscribers.
Finally, the CodeWarrior IDE, programming tools, and compilers will be
ported to Rhapsody. Metrowerks' CodeWarrior IDE will be hosted on both Mac
OS, as currently available, and on Rhapsody. The first developer release of
CodeWarrior for Rhapsody is scheduled for release in conjunction with
Apple's Premier release of Rhapsody.
Once the porting of the CodeWarrior IDE to Rhapsody is completed, both
CodeWarrior for Mac OS and CodeWarrior for Rhapsody will build:
- Mac OS applications for 68K and PowerPC,
- Rhapsody applications for PowerPC,
- Windows 95/NT applications for x86, and
- applications for embedded platforms including the Sony
PlayStation and U.S. Robotics' Pilot organizer.
About Apple Computer
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, information
appliances, and Internet technologies. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif.,
Apple develops, manufactures, licenses, and markets solutions, products,
technologies, and services in the areas of business, education, home use,
entertainment, scientific, engineering, and government for customers in
more than 140 countries.
About Metrowerks
Founded in 1985, Metrowerks develops, markets and supports a complete line
of programming tools for building applications for a number of operating
systems intended for use on desktop computers or embedded systems,
including Mac OS, Windows 95, Windows NT, PlayStation OS, BeOS and Palm OS,
running on a number of microprocessors including 68K, PowerPC, MIPS and x86
microprocessors. Metrowerks' CodeWarrior products are used by over 65,000
registered users in 70 countries. Additional information on Metrowerks and
its products is available via e-mail at "info@metrowerks.com", from our web
site at "http://www.metrowerks.com", or by calling (800) 377-5416 or (512)
873-4700.
###
Apple, Macintosh and Mac are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
Metrowerks, the Metrowerks logo and CodeWarrior are registered trademarks
of Metrowerks Inc. PowerPlant is a trademark of Metrowerks Inc. Windows,
Windows NT and Windows 95 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. All other
companies and products may be trademarks of their
respective holders and are hereby recognized.
Statements in this press release regarding future versions of CodeWarrior,
the Mac OS, and Rhapsody are forward looking statements that involve risks
and uncertainties, including successful and timely development of future
versions of CodeWarrior, the Mac OS, and Rhapsody and customer acceptance
of the product. More information on potential factors that could affect the
success of the products described in this press release is included in the
respective SEC filings of Apple and Metrowerks, including Apple's Form 10-K
for the 1996 fiscal year and in Apple's Form 10-Q for the first fiscal
quarter to be filed with the SEC.
