One prominent MPEG-4 figure noted that MPEG LA is under pressure to offer competitive licensing terms, and that pressure may have helped reassure Apple that it could release the QuickTime software before the final license. "MPEG LA has been talking to many potential licensees, and they're taking comments from the market very seriously," said Rob Koenen, chairman of the MPEG Requirements Group. "They're looking at this as a product that they have to sell, and the price has to be right." Apple plans to release QuickTime 6 with Jaguar, the next version of Mac OS X, in late summer. QuickTime 6 would be the first Mac OS X media player to support MPEG-4. Currently, only Apple and Microsoft offer Mac OS X media players. But Microsoft's media player only works as a standalone or with the Internet Explorer 5.1 browser. Windows Media Player for Mac OS X is not compatible with rival browsers such as AOL Time Warner's Netscape 6. RealNetworks has committed to releasing a Mac OS X version of its media player, but it has yet to do so. "The ISMA (Internet Streaming Media Alliance) is pleased that industry support for MPEG-4 remains strong, as is evidenced by Apple's latest announcement," said ISMA President Tom Jacobs. "The ISMA membership continues to work toward interoperable approaches for transporting and viewing rich media, and we believe that MPEG-4 is a superb content choice. We look forward to MPEG-LA soon publishing final licensing terms, and the ISMA has high expectations that amenable terms for all will be reached." Tuesday's release of the QuickTime 6 beta could be viewed as a pre-emptive strike against Microsoft, which is expected this summer to offer a test version of its next-generation digital media client and server software, code-named Corona. Microsoft has not yet committed to supporting MPEG-4, working instead on its own proprietary codecs and streaming technologies. More importantly, Microsoft does not plan to initially offer a Corona player for the Mac when the technology debuts later this year. "We'll focus on other platforms like the Mac primarily to ensure Windows Media content playback," said Jonathan Usher, director of the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft. "There will not be a separate Corona player in that time frame." Usher said he "can't comment" about whether Microsoft would release a Corona player for the Mac. "Our focus right now for the Corona time frame is Windows XP and other versions of Windows." News.com's Paul Festa contributed to this report.
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