IBM Corp and Apple Computer Inc are now expected to establish not one but at least two jointly-owned autonomous subsidiaries, the first, as planned, to develop the Apple Pink project to the point where it becomes an object-oriented desktop operating system that both can use on IBM’s Rios RISC, the second to pool the two companies’ resources in multimedia, portable and wireless computing. A report in this week’s Infoworld, quoted in the New York Times, suggests that the first product out of the newly-planned company will be a plamtop computer that can read and play back multimedia programming on compact disk ostensibly putting the two in competition with Apple’s Japanese partner Sony Corp and its Data Discman disk reader. The suggestion that wireless local area networks will also figure in the collaboration suggests that there may be an even bigger role for Motorola Inc, already brought in to help design and to fabricate the microprocessors for the joint venture.
