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WILL PIPPIN BE YET ANOTHER NEWTON FLOP FROM APPLE?
Even before its formal release, criticism of the new Pippin
entertainment has already begun. Pippin is the name of a set-top box
designed by Apple Computer Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. It promises to
play video games and digital video disk movies as well as access the
Internet. Apple is licensing the manufacture of the box to Bandai Ltd.
in Tokyo, but has no plans to build the box itself.
The problem is Apple and Bandai appear to be making all the same mistakes
as the 3DO Company of Redwood City, Calif. with its multimedia player
and Philips Electronics with its CDi offering. The 3DO company has since
focused on a narrower demographic, of 18-to-34 year olds, finding both
arcade games and popular PC software most to their audience’s
liking. This is hardly the education and family entertainment demographic
Apple and Bandai are pursuing.
Furthermore, after embracing the business plan of these unsuccessful
ventures, Apple and Bandai are debuting a hardware platform that costs
more and offers less performance than competing systems coming on the
market. Both Tokyo-based game vendors and 3DO who are about to mass
produce next generation game machines.
“The year 1996 will start a transition from the 32-bit market
to the 64-bit market,” says Trip Hawkins, president and CEO of
3DO. The PowerPC chip inside Pippin is a 32-bit processor. Furthermore,
Pippin lacks the graphics acceleration capability, such as anti-aliasing
and interpolation found in 3DO’s M2 and Nintendo’s Ultra
64.
Another complaint is that the new Pippin begins at $648 but will require
additional hardware to play digital video disks. MPEG video playback
will be supported through after market Peripheral Components Interface
attachments. Internet access requires an add-on modem.
The other hurdle Pippin will have to overcome is getting game developers
to port software to the new hardware platform. With game creators increasingly
developing software for platforms with the largest installed base, Pippin
has little to offer except Apple and Bandai estimates of 500,000 Pippin
units worldwide in 1996.
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