• by February 13, 2002

Apple Computer Inc., network computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. and wireless telephone maker Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson said on Tuesday that they jointly would support a new format for next-generation Internet streaming media.

Apple previewed the latest version of its media player, QuickTime 6, which supports the MPEG-4 format, at a QuickTime conference and said competitors needed to agree on standards for next-generation streaming video.

Incompatibility between audio players, some of which use the MP3 music format and others using proprietary ones, is the clearest example of the difficulties facing consumers when the industry cannot settle on a standard.

MPEG-4 supports quality higher than current video standards, including older versions of QuickTime, Apple said.

But is also flexible enough to scale down quality for smaller devices like cell phones and to accommodate poor connections and wireless ones, leading the three partners to announce their alliance in a statement.

Apple's QuickTime competes with products from Microsoft Corp. and RealNetworks Inc., but Apple hopes competitors will embrace MPEG-4, so that a user could easily play one clip on all the different platforms.

However, the new version of QuickTime awaits licensing negotiations with MPEG-4 patent holders, and Apple executives could not forecast when it would be available.

Apple also previewed kits to compose and send video over the Internet in the new format, using a digital video camera and a computer.

Reuters