Apple Computer Inc and Netscape Communications Corp will jointly develop interoperable, standards-based applications and development tools to create real-time audio and videoconferencing over the Internet. Netscape also plans to bundle Apple’s Quick Time Conferencing technology with its Navigator 3.0 Internet client software for the Mac, enabling Netscape to offer an audio conferencing system, CoolTalk, for Mac users to call Mac, Windows and Unix users. An on-line whiteboard will be available soon after the initial release, adding cross-system collaboration capabilities to CoolTalk. In its initial release, QTC-enabled CoolTalk will be based on Netscape’s Live-Media protocols, which should soon include the emerging H.323 standard. Netscape Navigator 3.0 with CoolTalk for the Mac is expected to cost $50. The on-line white-board should ship early next year.
