The idea of a Macintosh variant being used for such a thing may sound more like Cold Lazarus than Karaoke, but Bandai Co Ltd has agreed an alliance with karaoke equipment trading firm Nikkodo Co Ltd for joint development and marketing of home karaoke equipment with multimedia functions based on the Pippin cut-down version of Apple Computer Inc’s pride and joy. To seal the deal, Bandai and its Bandai Digital Entertainment arm will pay some $22m for a total of 1.92m Nikkodo shares from Nikkodo president Kisaburo Takagi, raising its stake to 6.78% from 0.13%, and giving Bandai Digital Entertainment 2.04%. The partners plan to sell the Pippin Atmark CD-ROM player with karaoke functions and develop karaoke toys.
