Apple never intended to release Pippin on its own. Apple intended to make the Pippin platform an
open standard by licensing the technology to third parties, much like how
JVC shared the
VHS format in the 1970s. The licensees could improve their systems by improving industrial design, integrating telephony, improving video and audio capabilities, increasing memory capacity, and more. In early 1994, Bandai approached Apple with the gaming console idea. The original design was based on a
Macintosh Classic II 16 MHz
Motorola 68030 running
Macintosh system software. Apple's involvement would be to define the initial logic board design, and Bandai would provide the casing and packaging. This was considered the fastest delivery solution to market at a very reasonable
return on investment for Apple and Bandai. As Bandai specifically marketed its Pippin models as game consoles, many of the releases are games, entertainment software, or
edutainment software. However, unlike conventional gaming consoles, the Pippin has no dedicated graphics or sound processors. In March 1996, the white-colored Bandai went on sale in Japan at a price of 64,800 yen, which included a dial-up modem and four bundled CD-ROMs. Yamashina predicted 200,000 Pippin ATMARK systems would be sold in Japan within the first twelve months. In October 1995, the
Nikkei reported that
Mitsubishi Electric would follow Bandai as a licensee to the Pippin technology. Although Mitsubishi did not actually sign a license agreement with Apple, it did manufacture the systems for Bandai (and effectively, Katz Media) on an
original equipment manufacturer basis. Bandai originally planned to launch the Pippin in 1995, but the release was later pushed back to March 1996 for Japan and June 1996 for the US. The black-colored Bandai Pippin @WORLD (pronounced
at-world) went on sale in the United States in June 1996 at a price of US$599.00. The @WORLD bundle included a six-month unlimited Internet account from
PSINet at a cost of US$24.95 per month. Bandai predicted 200,000 Pippin @WORLD systems would be sold in Japan in its first twelve months, and 300,000 systems sold in the US within twelve months of being released there.
Developer marketing To encourage software developers to create content for the Pippin platform, Apple attempted to sell the platform as being
scalable, in that applications written, for example, the ATMARK or @WORLD would work in future models of Pippin. In Apple's Q&A document, Apple contrasted its scalability with the
Nintendo system, where the "Nintendo 8-bit
NES cartridges don't work on the 16-bit
SNES." Merlin Media was contracted to produce Pippin demonstration CD-ROMs.
Network Computer Platform On May 21, 1996,
Oracle Corporation, along with 30 hardware and software vendors, announced an intent to build computers that are designed around the Network Computer platform. The idea was to design technology based on a
Network Computer Reference Profile including
diskless computers, commonly coded applications using languages such as
Java, and interface with the Internet using common software such as
Netscape Navigator. In May 1996, Apple became a partner in the network computing effort through Pippin. Katz Media attempted to use the network computer platform concept to push the Pippin to eliminate the
floppy disk, the Pippin was about two years ahead of the iMac in this effort. A June 1996
Pippin Special issue of
Mac Fan magazine in Japan is dedicated entirely to Pippin.
Unfulfilled roadmap Apple intended to grow the Pippin platform alongside the rest of the Macintosh line. In a July 1996 Apple developer publication, Apple's CEO
Gil Amelio announced the Pippin 1997 Reference Platform, and suggested that the platform would include the latest Macintosh technologies, including
IEEE 1394 or FireWire, and a 25-pin external SCSI port as standard interfaces. In May 1997, Bandai announced a docking station that would include
Ethernet support at US$139.00, although such a peripheral was never made available. In 1997, Bandai developed two prototype units and displayed them at the MACWORLD Expo/Tokyo '97 event. The Bandai ATMARK-PD was designed as a direct replacement of the original ATMARK footprint, and would have included an internal drive that can read a standard CD-ROM disc, and read and write to a
magneto-optical WORM PD disk with 600
MB of storage capacity. The Bandai ATMARK-EX was to feature a footprint similar to a Macintosh desktop unit. It was designed to include 8 MB of RAM (expandable to 40 MB) and the ability to utilize standard 72-pin
EDO-DRAM modules, instead of the proprietary memory modules used in the ATMARK and @WORLD. The chassis can handle a half-sized PCI card internally. The displayed unit contains a PCI card-based Ethernet interface, and a built-in analog modem. An infrared-based ADB interface is in the prototype, for a new line of peripherals.
Katz Media Player 2000 On June 4, 1996, Katz Media, based in Norway, became the second (and last) company to sign a license agreement with Apple to produce Pippin systems. While Bandai was targeting the Japan and United States markets, Katz Media focused on Europe and Canada. Because Katz Media was a media software-only company, it signed an agreement with Bandai so that Bandai would produce the hardware as an
OEM for Katz Media. Katz Media originally intended to produce two configurations of the Pippin: one as a basic multimedia system for running CD-ROMs, and a higher-end system supporting Internet access. The goal was to start shipping Pippin units in November 1996, it ended up producing only one model of the Pippin – the Katz Media Player 2000 (KMP 2000). The KMP 2000 was available in two configurations: with or without an external 50-pin
SCSI interface on the back of the unit. To develop content, Katz Media worked with a variety of multimedia developers and publishers to "Pippinize" their existing CD-ROMs and make them available for the Pippin. Katz Media never sold the KMP 2000 in the retail market. Instead, it attempted to use the system as a
set-top box for a television set or VGA display, to be distributed to its partners' respective client bases in order to interface with a variety of
vertically marketed interests, such as catalogs, databases, Internet content, and so on. As a result, the KMP 2000 is the rarest of the Pippin systems, and is extremely difficult to find in today's used market. Katz Media signed a number of agreements with companies across Europe and Canada. One agreement was to publish CD-ROM-based catalogs for Redwall Retail Stores, and use the Pippin as an
interactive kiosk that would be set up in stores running the CD-ROMs. Katz Media also attempted to push the KMP 2000 into
Canada – a country where, in May 1997, only 20 percent of its citizens had access to the Internet. Katz Media then signed with a hospital in France, using the KMP 2000 as an online system so that, as a team, physicians could pull up and review case studies, and collaborate on diagnoses and treatments. On June 16, 1997, the Netface Consortium in the Netherlands selected the KMP 2000 as the device to be used as a part of what the company called "the world's first Internet shopping mall." CAI-Westland owned a two-way cable system with 55,000 subscribers, and the KMP 2000 was to be given to the subscribers as a device to shop for products from a consortium of 23 companies. Bandai canceled production of the Pippin during its merger discussions with
Sega in early 1997, and after the merger was canceled, began rethinking its marketing strategy for the Pippin. This led to a short-lived, last resort attempt to market the Pippin as an all-in-one
set-top box, but this approach failed. At a price of on launch, it was considered too expensive. When
Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he stopped all
Macintosh clone efforts, which shut down the Pippin concept. Once Apple stopped all Pippin development, it affected all parties. Bandai stopped the production of all models of Pippin by mid-1997. Katz Media, who was receiving its systems from Bandai, vowed to continue supporting Pippin in a PR notice released June 25, 1997. Katz Media reportedly had some 100,000 units committed because of written agreements with companies spanning twenty countries. A former employee of DayStar placed sales of the Pippin through its distribution chain as high as 2,000 systems. Bandai continued to support its consoles until December 31, 2002. == Apple Bandai Pippin ==