iMac prosperity gives birth to Apple iBook

Macworld Vendor's $1,599 notebook due to be shipped in September.

Apple has launched a notebook version of its iMac consumer desktop, claiming it is the second fastest laptop in the world and the first consumer portable to include wireless internet access.

Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple, said the iBook, which is based on a 300MHz PowerPC G3 microprocessor, is second in speed only to the vendor's professional laptop, which was launched in May.

He added: "We went to our consumer and education customers to ask them what they wanted from a notebook, and when we added it all up, they wanted an iMac to go."

The iBook is available in tangerine and blueberry and has a rubber-coated translucent enclosure, a pullout handle and a closing mechanism without latches.

The notebook has a 12.1in TFT display, a built-in 56K modem and CD-Rom. Two built-in antennae and an internal slot also provide users with wireless internet access through Apple's Airport technology. The iBook and Airport will ship in September, costing $1,599 and $99 respectively.

Meanwhile, IBM and Apple demonstrated the first speech recognition software for the Macintosh platform at the Macworld conference in New York last week. Viavoice for the Macintosh enables customers to perform tasks such as creating email and editing documents by using spoken commands. The product also includes Apple's text-to-speech function, which allows Apple computers to read text back to users.

The first editions of Via-voice for the Mac, available in US and UK English, are scheduled to be released later this year. Pricing and additional product details will be available over the next few months.

In a separate move, Apple claimed that Quicktime TV (QTV) was the first network on the internet to deliver high quality video and audio. QTV is based on Apple's Quicktime 4 Player software, its open source Quicktime streaming server software, Apple and Akamai Technologies' jointly developed streamed content delivery service, and content from providers such as BBC World, Disney and Virgin Radio.

- Corel has launched three internet ready products for the Macintosh - Print Office 2000, Print House 2000 and Corel Custom Photo. The first ever Mac version of Corel's publishing software, Corel Print Office 2000, is aimed at small office and home office users that need to create documents such as brochures and business cards. It will be available in the US from September, priced at $99. European launch dates and prices are due to be announced.