Mark Tran in New York
Apple Computer, wallowing in red ink, has been quietly receiving help from an unexpected quarter – — arch-rival Microsoft.
The software market leader has been helping small software companies write Internet programs for Apple, an effort that will cost it millions of dollars. But Microsoft chairman Bill Gates believes that is a small price to pay to keep regulators off his back. He is worried at the prospect of anti- trust challenges should Apple collapse.
Microsoft this week tried to play down fears about regulatory action, pointing out it had been committed to Apple’s Macintosh system. “We have lots of customers on the Mac platform and we want our Internet Explorer browser to work with it and other platforms as well,” a Microsoft official said.
Microsoft quietly set up the unit in San Jose, California, last year to direct the programme, which is expected to employ about 60 people, mostly long- time developers of software for the Mac system. For Apple, Microsoft’s lifeline will come as a relief and a humiliation.
Apple has prided itself on its software know-how, traditionally scorning Microsoft technology. But Apple needs all the help it can get.
The company is trying to claw its way back to profitability after losses of almost $900-million in the past 12 months under the new leadership of Gilbert Amelio, who has initiated the policy of detente with Microsoft. Although Apple has set its sights on the Internet, independent Macintosh software developers have been frustrated at what they describe as Apple’s slow pace on Internet matters.
Microsoft is the leading supplier of software for the Mac. Because of the popularity of Microsoft’s range of software products, it usually makes more money on the Mac than does Apple.
But now Microsoft programers will be free to ignore the company’s flagship operating system and write only for the Mac.