Apple Drops WebObjects License Price From $50,000 to $699

WWDC, SAN JOSE, California—May 15, 2000—Apple® today unveiled aggressive new pricing for its industry-leading WebObjects® web application server software, and also revealed that the next version of WebObjects will be written entirely in Java. Starting today, customers can purchase a complete solution for developing and deploying WebObjects applications for $699. This new price includes both the award-winning WebObjects developer tools and a high-end deployment license which allowsunlimited usage on one server, which together were previously priced at over $50,000.

Later this year, Apple will ship WebObjects 5 for Java, which will be built using 100 percent pure Java technology. WebObjects 5 for Java will enable Internet developers using Java to quickly build complex solutions which can be deployed on virtually any server. WebObjects 5 for Java also will support awealth of Internet standards including Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) for interoperability and JDBC for universal database connectivity.

“WebObjects is the premiere software for rapidly developing and deploying web applications to millions of users worldwide,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With its new pricing and support for Java, WebObjects is now accessible to a wider audience of customers and developers.”

WebObjects is an end-to-end application server with tools, technologies and capabilities that make it an easy-to-use, standards-compliant solution. It has an object-oriented architecture that promotes quick development of reusable components. WebObjects provides scalability, load balancing andfault-tolerant capabilities for multi-threaded applications running across multiple CPUs that support high transaction volumes.

Apple is also offering new consulting services for customers who would like to implement a customized web application developed in WebObjects as part of its expanded professional services organization which delivers consulting, integration and training services for WebObjects, QuickTime™ Streaming Server and Mac® OS X. The expanded services organization, Apple iServices, will provide professional services for Apple customers and developers in the creative, education and business markets.

Pricing & Availability
WebObjects 4.5 is available through Apple Resellers and the Apple Store™ (www.apple.com) for US$699. A fully cross-platform solution, WebObjects 4.5 runs on Mac OS X Server, Windows NT/2000, Solaris and HP-UX systems. WebObjects 5 for Java will be available later this year.