Apple, Toshiba Join to Seek Multimedia Lead : Technology: The joint venture to produce handheld information devices is based on developments from an Apple/IBM alliance.

Apple Computer, seeking to establish itself as the standard-setter for a new generation of “multimedia” computers, has joined Toshiba Corp. to build a line of handheld information devices based on technology from an Apple/IBM joint venture.

At a trade show Tuesday in Beverly Hills, Apple and Toshiba provided little detail about the products they will develop, except for the code name, Sweet Pea.

Industry sources said they will be handheld machines that play CD-ROM computer disks. These disks, similar to music CDs, can store an enormous amount of text and visual information and are widely regarded as a crucial medium for multimedia.

In a closely related announcement at the trade show, Apple and International Business Machines said their joint venture, called Kaleida, will be headed by Nat Goldhaber, a venture capitalist.

Kaleida, which forms one piece of the broad alliance that Apple and IBM launched last year, aims to establish desperately needed software standards for an emerging class of business and consumer computers that can handle text, graphics, sound and moving images.

Many in the computer, consumer electronics, entertainment and publishing industries believe that these multimedia products will radically transform the information business over the next decade.

Apple and Toshiba aren’t the only ones pursuing these technologies. A growing number of personal computers are equipped with CD-ROM drives; Sony and Microsoft have developed a portable CD-ROM player known as the Bookman, and Philips is promoting a multimedia machine called CDI.

But the Apple/Toshiba products could be especially important because of the connection to Kaleida. Thus far, the development of multimedia has been severely handicapped by the fact that video game producers, book publishers, educational programmers and other potential multimedia software developers must choose among many competing hardware “platforms.”

A company looking to produce a multimedia encyclopedia--which might contain not only written descriptions but also pictures, video clips and soundtracks to accompany each entry--must now develop a separate product for an IBM-compatible PC, an Apple Macintosh and a Philips CDI machine.

This problem was evident in discussions at the Digital World conference in Beverly Hills where Apple made its announcement. The conference brings together an unusual melange of computer, publishers and entertainment executives, but most of the promising businesses they are discussing do not really exist yet. That is due, in part, to the lack of a standard approach to new multimedia and communications technologies.

Kaleida hopes to solve this problem with a series of software technologies that will permit any software title written to certain standards to play different manufacturers’ equipment.

The company hopes to license its technologies to both hardware and software companies. The teaming of Apple, IBM and Toshiba should give Kaleida clout in the market.

The selection of Goldhaber, 44, to head Kaleida was well received. He emphasized his commitment to making multimedia a vehicle for bringing the power of the computer to all people, not just to the corporate world.

Two IBM executives, two Apple executives, and Goldhaber were also named to Kaleida’s board of directors.

Apple, IBM and Toshiba may have a fourth ally in their efforts to become leaders in multimedia: Time Warner, whose vast array of entertainment and publishing properties position it as a major player in multimedia.

Toshiba owns a stake in Time Warner’s entertainment division, and Time Warner has been talking with IBM about a partnership in the cable television arena. Burbank-based Warner New Media said Tuesday that it had agreed to develop multimedia titles for the Apple/Toshiba machine.

The first of the Apple/Toshiba products--as well as the Kaleida software technologies--will not be available until mid-1993. The trade newspaper MacWeek said the first device will be a black-and-white CD-ROM player selling for $500 to $700.

For Apple, the Toshiba alliance marks the second step in a much-publicized strategy to move beyond its traditional computer business with a new set of products called “personal digital assistants.” Last month, the company announced an agreement with Sharp Corp. to develop a pen-operated personal organizer called the Newton.

For Toshiba, the Apple agreement fits well with its expanding relationship with IBM. The two companies jointly produce liquid crystal display screens, and last week they were reported to be joining forces to develop a new type of memory chip.