Apple Offers Panasonic DVD-RAM Drive for Power Macintosh G3 System; Industry Standard Rewritable DVD Provides Ideal Removable Storage Solution for Audio/Video Production, Post-Production.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 5, 1999--Under an agreement announced by Panasonic Industrial Company today, Apple Computer, Inc. will offer Panasonic's LF-D101 DVD-RAM drive as a separate build-to-order (BTO) option for its new Power Macintosh G3 family of personal computers. With the versatile DVD-RAM drive, design and creative professionals will have 2.6GB of rewritable, removable storage for multimedia content, video production or system backup applications for about .008(cent)/MB.

Fully compliant with the DVD Forum's DVD-RAM standards, the LF-D101 can read from discs currently accepted by CD-ROM, CD Audio, CD-R, CD-RW and video CD drives, as well as PD, DVD-ROM, DVD video, and DVD-R drives. The drive's unprecedented media interchangeability provides users with the assurance that they won't have to convert work that was previously recorded on one of the compatible technologies.

"Today, Apple launched the new Power Macintosh G3, forever changing what customers should expect from a desktop personal computer," said Philip Schiller, Apple's vice president of worldwide product marketing. "Panasonic's DVD-RAM drive is a great build-to-order option for our pro customers adding to the new G3's formidable arsenal of forward-looking technologies, including ATI RAGE 128 graphics, FireWire, USB and 10/100BASE-T Ethernet, built into every new Power Macintosh G3."

With 2.6GB single-sided DVD-RAM media, the front-loading drive will store up to one hour of digital video, five hours of digital audio, 68 hi-res color photos, 800 256-color VGA screen captures and up to 1,300,000 pages of text. The Panasonic DVD-RAM drive is also fully compatible with the ATI RAGE 128 graphic accelerator which is included as standard with the new Power Macintosh G3 systems. Combined, they enhance the DVD experience with broadcast-quality video.

"It's almost as though the Power Macintosh G3 was developed with the LF-D101 drive in mind," said Jeff Saake, group general manager, Panasonic Industrial Co., Computer Technology Group. "It incorporates almost every feature and capability creative DVD users could ask for in a computer. It delivers stunning video, audio and music, games and computer data. It's a cutting-edge multimedia system that fits the budget of professionals and home users alike. With the addition of our DVD-RAM drive, they've added fast, reliable and economical virtual storage capacity."

Designed to provide more than a 100,000 overwrites, the "bare" 2.6GB single-sided media comes in a cartridge that can be removed for loading in the newer DVD-RAM-compatible DVD-ROM drives and in DVD-RAM drives. The cartridge protects the mission-critical data when the media is removed from the drive for storage or shipment. To play the DVD-RAM media, the user simply opens the cartridge, removes the disc and inserts it in the drive. When removed from the drive, users can return the disc to the cartridge for protection just as they would return a CD to its jewel cases.

The Panasonic DVD-RAM drive provides access speeds of 120ms and a data transfer rate of up to 10.5Mbps. To further enhance performance, a 2MB buffer is included. In addition to offering twice the transfer rates and four times the capacity of CD-R and CD-RW, the Panasonic rewritable DVD drive provides a lower storage cost than other removable storage solutions.

The Power Macintosh G3 DVD-RAM drive will be available as a BTO option from the Apple Store (www.apple.com) and Apple Authorized Resellers. DVD-RAM media will be available from Apple, Panasonic and a number of other media producers at MSRPs of less than $25.00 for the 2.6GB media and $45.00 for the 5.2GB media.

The Panasonic DVD-RAM OEM drive is manufactured by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE:MC), one of the world's leading producers of CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives and other digital electronic products. The drives are marketed by the company's principal North American subsidiary, Matsushita Electric Corp. of America. Worldwide, Matsushita has more than 275,000 employees and recorded sales of $59.7 billion during the past fiscal year.

For more information on the Panasonic DVD-RAM drive and media, contact Panasonic Industrial Company, 1600 McCandless Drive, Milpitas, CA 99035; [phone], FAX [phone], E-mail [e-mail]. Or, visit the company's Web site at www.panasonic.com/oemdvd-ram. In Canada, contact Panasonic Canada, 5770 Ambler Drive, Mississauga, Ontario L4W 2T3, Canada; [phone], FAX [phone], E-mail [e-mail].

Apple Computer Inc. is not a part or in any way legally affiliated with Panasonic Industrial Company. Panasonic Industrial Company assumes no responsibility for the performance of or customer satisfaction with Apple Computer products.