Apple Agrees to License Newton Technology to Schlumberger, Digital Ocean
CUPERTINO, Calif. — November 3, 1995 — Apple Computer, Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) today announced that it has agreed to license its Newton personal digital assistant (PDA) technology to Schlumberger Electronic Transactions, of Montrouge, France and Digital Ocean of Lenexa, Kansas. The addition of these two new Newton licensees coincides with Apple's plans to showcase products based on its recently announced Newton 2.0 platform at the trade show COMDEX, being held in Las Vegas next week.
Schlumberger Electronic Transactions, a division of Schlumberger Ltd (NYSE: SLB), an international organization with oil field services, and measurement and systems businesses, plans to use Newton technology in integrated "smart card" systems, which are designed to automate medical transactions.
"It's Schlumberger's goal to offer a range of tools to implement major improvements in the health care sector, providing the means to reduce costs and enhance the quality of patient care," said Laurence de Talance, Schlumberger's manager of the Health Management Systems group. "The Newton platform provides the advanced information management and communications capabilities needed to make this system a viable solution for the medical industry."
Digital Ocean, a leader in wireless connectivity products for Apple desktop, portable and PDA products, plans to incorporate Newton technology with Global Positioning System (GPS) and wireless communications features in specialized applications in the manufacturing, transportation, health care and services industries. The company already markets the Grouper series of wireless local area network adapters for the Newton platform.
"Our customers demand innovations such as backlighting, wireless connectivity, and durability in their products," said Jeff Alholm, Digital Ocean's CEO. "The power, flexibility and ease-of-use of the Newton platform — coupled with Digital Ocean's expertise in wireless connectivity and communications — provides an excellent solution for these specialized markets and applications."
"The support of our licensees is critical to the proliferation of the Newton platform as the standard for PDAs," said Sandy Benett, acting vice president of the Newton Systems Group. "With the addition of Digital Ocean and Schlumberger as Newton licensees, we expect to see an expansion in the range of innovative new solutions based on the Newton platform."
Newton Licensees at COMDEX
In the Newton Pavilion, Apple's dedicated Newton booth at COMDEX, (Booth #4354, North Hall, Las Vegas Convention Center), Motorola Corp., Harris Corp. (NYSE: HRS), and Digital Ocean will be demonstrating Newton-based products that provide wireless connectivity solutions for mobile professionals as well as vertical markets. The Newton Pavilion will also feature many new developer products and solutions based on Newton 2.0, a major revision of the Newton operating system. Newton 2.0 is designed to provide improved organizational and communications capabilities, and the ability to integrate with Windows and Mac OS-based personal computers and enterprise environments.
In the Newton Pavilion, Motorola will be showing its Marco Wireless Communicator, which features an integrated two-way wireless radio modem. The software solutions planned for demonstration on the Marco communicator allow wireless connectivity to LAN-based e-mail such as Microsoft Mail, cc:Mail and QuickMail. Additionally, the Marco Wireless Communicator comes bundled with software to connect users with two available communications services: RadioMail and ARDIS PersonalMessaging, both connected via the ARDIS nationwide wireless data communications network.
Harris Corp., a leader in interactive telephone line test systems, will be showing its SuperTech 2000 Craft Digital Assistant, a rugged, backlit Newton product designed to automate telephone and CATV communications testing systems. The SuperTech 2000 (ST2K) provides field technicians with intelligent tools that enable information gathering and management, and wireless communications.
"The considerable advancements that Apple has made with its Newton 2.0 platform will not only extend the company's PDA market leadership, but also that of its licensees," said Ken Selig, Harris' director of SuperTech. "No other PDA platform comes close to Newton 2.0 in offering advanced information management, network integration and communications capabilities. And, because the Newton platform has been designed to support rapid application development, we plan to have Newton 2.0 SuperTech 2000 solutions available as soon as possible."
Digital Ocean plans to show its Tarpon product, which is designed for applications requiring rugged field use. The company plans to market its Newton PDA devices to customers who need integrated features such as dGPS (differential Global Positioning System), wireless wide- area network services, bar code, backlighting, increased durability and voice-over local area networks.
Apple plans to continue to work closely with all of its licensees, including Sharp Corp., Kyushu Matsushita Electric Co., Ltd., Siemens, Alcatel and Motorola to deliver next-generation Newton platform products to a variety of markets worldwide.
"The Newton 2.0 operating system represents an important step forward in PDA development, and offers Newton licensees significant new opportunities for product innovation and market growth," Apple's Benett added. "We will be working closely with all of our licensees to ensure that they are able to take advantage of the advancements in the Newton platform as quickly as possible."
Apple Computer, Inc., a recognized pioneer and innovator in the information industry, creates powerful solutions based on easy-to-use personal computers, servers, peripherals, software, online services, and personal digital assistants. Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) develops, manufactures, licenses and markets products, technologies and services for the business, education, consumer, scientific & engineering and government markets in over 140 countries.
Customer Information Contact: If you are considering the purchase of an Apple product and would like to have product information faxed to you, please call 1-800-462-4396 in the U.S. or (415) 598-4329 in Canada. If you do not have a fax machine or would like to locate an Apple authorized reseller near you, please call 1-800-538-9696. Customers outside the U.S. should contact their local Apple representatives for information.
Apple's home page on the World Wide Web: http://www.apple.com
Newton home page on the World Wide Web, the centralized location for obtaining information about the Newton platform: http://www.info.apple.com/newton
Apple, the Apple logo, Newton and MessagePad are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Digital Ocean, Tarpon, Grouper, Manta and Starfish are registered trademarks of Digital Ocean, Inc. All other company and product brand names mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders, and are hereby acknowledged.
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