Apple puts kibosh on Power?s Mac licence

Future of other licensees uncertain as Macintosh vendor buys Power Computing out of contract

Apple is threatening to pull the rug out from underneath its clone licensees after announcing it will no longer license the Macintosh operating system to Power Computing.

The revelation follows eight months of discussions between Apple and its licensees. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is rumoured to have put pressure on the firm?s board to sever ties with clone manufacturers ? notably Power Computing, Umax and Motorola ? as he saw them as a drain on Apple?s R&D.

Speculation that Apple would not license its next-generation operating system, Rhapsody, to the clone manufacturers was fuelled by the announcement of Microsoft?s investment in the vendor at Macworld last month.

In his keynote speech at the event, Jobs? played down Apple?s commitment to the operating system (PC Dealer, 13 August).

Relations between Apple and its clone licensees reached an all-time low when Power Computing COO Joel Kocher was forced out of the firm two weeks ago after a dispute over the future of its licensing strategy.

Sources claimed Apple had bought out Power Computing?s Mac OS contract and that it would support Power Computing?s users for a limited period.

It was not clear how much Apple had been forced to pay Power Computing to get out of the licensing contract.

Earlier this week, Apple posted a notice on its Web site stating that the company will discontinue its special offer to distribute discount Mac OS 8 upgrades to customers that have bought Mac clones.

Power Computing is expected to concentrate its business on selling Intel-based PC machines, following an earlier announcement that it plans to develop of Wintel machines.

Power is also a licensee of software developer Be?s operating system.