Apple’s Mac OS X to Ship on March 24

MACWORLD EXPO, SAN FRANCISCO—January 9, 2001—Apple® today announced that Mac® OS X, the next generation Macintosh® operating system, will ship on March 24, 2001 for a suggested retail price of US$129. Mac OS X is the world’s most advanced operating system, combining the power and openness of UNIX with the legendary ease of use and broad applications base of Macintosh.

Mac OS X features:

• an open source, UNIX based foundation called Darwin;
• Apple’s new Quartz™ graphics engine based on the PDF standard for stunning graphics and broad font support;
• OpenGL for spectacular 3D graphics and gaming;
• integrated QuickTime™ for streaming audio and video;
• the Classic API, which runs most existing Mac® applications “as is”;
• the Carbon™ API, which runs “tuned-up” Mac applications with the full Mac OS X features;
• the Cocoa™ API, which runs advanced object-oriented applications, providing developers the fastest and most powerful way to create applications for Mac OS X;
• the full Java 2 API, providing developers the most advanced Java 2 client available; and
• the Aqua™ user interface, an entirely new user interface with superior ease of use, amazing new functionality and a stunning, elegant new appearance.

“Mac OS X is the future of the Mac, and we hope it will delight our customers with its unrivaled power and ease of use,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “The Public Beta has generated incredible feedback and support from Mac users and developers, which has helped us to make Mac OS X the most advanced operating system ever.”

Apple has shipped more than 100,000 copies of Mac OS X Public Beta since its release in September and has received more than 75,000 individual user feedback entries from Mac users and developers worldwide. The reaction to the Public Beta has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly in response to Mac OS X’s incredible stability, Aqua user interface, easy installation and compatibility with existing applications. Direct input from customers has also helped Apple enhance key aspects of Mac OS X with powerful improvements to the Dock, Desktop, Finder™ and networking technology, making Mac OS X more customizable and familiar to Mac users.

More than 400 leading developers, including Adobe, Alias|Wavefront, Macromedia and Microsoft have committed to delivering more than 1,200 applications built for Mac OS X. In addition, more than 100 developers will announce new Mac OS X products this week at Macworld. A complete listing of applications built for Mac OS X is available at http://guide.apple.com/macosxlist.html.

Mac OS X is built upon an incredibly stable, open source, UNIX based foundation called Darwin and features true memory protection, preemptive multi-tasking and symmetric multiprocessing when running on the dual processor Power Mac™ G4. Mac OS X includes Apple’s new Quartz 2D graphics engine (based on the Internet-standard Portable Document Format) for stunning graphics and broad font support; OpenGL for spectacular 3D graphics and gaming; and QuickTime for streaming audio and video. Mac OS X also features an entirely new user interface called Aqua. Aqua combines superior ease of use with amazing new functionality such as the Dock, a breakthrough for organizing applications, documents and document windows.

Mac OS X is the first operating system designed from the ground up for the Internet and includes a number of key Internet applications including Microsoft Internet Explorer:mac 5.1 Preview Release; Apple’s new, easy-to-use Mail client compatible with the most popular Internet email accounts; QuickTime player; and Sherlock® Internet search tool. Apple’s innovative suite of Internet Services will be fully integrated into Mac OS X, providing all users with an automatic iTools account and access to new features such as quick access to their iDisk Internet storage folder.

Apple also announced today it will immediately begin shipping Mac OS 9.1, the latest update of Mac OS 9. Designed to ensure a smooth transition to Mac OS X, Mac OS 9.1 serves as the basis for Classic, the technology in Mac OS X that ensures compatibility with today’s application software.

Pricing & Availability
Mac OS X will be available through The Apple Store™ (www.apple.com) and through Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of US$129 beginning March 24, 2001. Mac OS X will be preinstalled as the standard operating system on Macintosh computers beginning this summer.

Mac OS 9.1 is immediately available through The Apple Store (www.apple.com) and through Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of US$99, and is available as a free download for Mac OS 9 customers at www.apple.com/macos.

System Requirements
Mac OS X requires a minimum of 128MB of memory and is designed to run on the following Apple products: iMac™, iBook™, Power Macintosh® G3, Power Mac™ G4, Power Mac G4 Cube and PowerBook™ introduced after September 1998.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.

Press Contacts:
Alicia Awbrey
Apple
(408) 974-0922
awbrey@apple.com

Nicole Scott
Edelman Worldwide
(650) 968-4033 ext. 2764
nicole.scott@edelman.com

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple's PR website (www.apple.com/pr/), or call Apple's Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.

Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, Aqua, Carbon, Cocoa, Finder, iBook, iMac, Mac, Macintosh, Mac OS, Power Mac, PowerBook, Quartz, QuickTime and Sherlock are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.