In a deal that could lead to radical changes in the way Macintosh
computers work, Apple Computer Inc. is negotiating to buy Be Inc., a
Menlo Park developer of cutting-edge operating system technology.
Sources said Apple and Be have been in discussions since mid-June,
and that talks heated up this week. They said Apple would like to
strike a deal by year end so it can introduce a new software system
for the Macintosh in mid-1997.
There has been no basic change in the ``look and feel'' of the
Macintosh since the computers were introduced in 1984, and a new
system code-named Copland is far behind in development. Meanwhile,
rival Microsoft has caught up -- and some say surpassed -- the
Macintosh technology with Windows 95.
If a deal is reached, Apple would meld the whiz-bang multimedia
features of the Be operating system with Apple's strong points in
ease-of-use and graphics.
Apple reportedly may pay up to $100 million to buy Be, a company
founded by Jean-Louis Gassee, who quit as Apple Products president in
a tiff with then-chief executive John Sculley in October 1990.
Apple declined to comment about a potential deal. However, Apple
Chief Technical Officer Ellen Hancock reportedly is leading a push
for a radical shift in the company's operating system and received
approval at a board of directors meeting in New York last month.
The usually loquacious Gassee was tight-lipped yesterday. ``What
can I say that hasn't already been said on the Net or through various
leaks?'' he said.
In fact, rumors have been flowing out of Apple so quickly the past
several days that company officials are attempting to trace internal
leaks so they can fire employees.
Analysts said a major new operating system is critical to Apple's
success. The Cupertino computer maker has been steadily losing market
share to Microsoft, with little relief in sight. According to market
researcher Dataquest Inc., Apple's share of worldwide PC shipments
slipped to 5.4 percent in the third quarter.
Apple has to ``come out with an OS that re-establishes it as
superior technology to Microsoft,'' said Linley Gwennap, editor of
the Microprocessor Report newsletter in Sebastopol. ``They have to do
it quickly, though. It took them years to develop Copland, which
still isn't here, and they've done little to tell developers and
customers what they are doing on the OS front.''
Last summer, Apple said it would abandon Copland and instead
release incremental upgrades to the Mac OS.
Regardless of how acquisition talks shake out, Gassee has
announced Be's intention to make its operating system compatible with
the latest generation of Macintoshes by early 1997. The 6-year-old
company plans to release the system at January's Macworld Expo trade
show in San Francisco. Mac clonemaker Power Computing Corp. already
is in talks with Be to include the operating system in its computers,
according to sources.
