[ GEN 5 · Apple Computer + Bandai ]
Apple Pippin (Bandai @WORLD / Atmark)
Specifications
- Manufacturer
- Apple Computer + Bandai
- CPU
- PowerPC 603e @ 66 MHz (Mac-derived)
- GPU
- Apple/IBM custom — 64,000 simultaneous colors
- RAM
- 6 MB main + 1 MB VRAM
- OS
- Pippin OS — a tailored subset of Mac OS System 7
- Resolution
- 640×480
- Audio
- 16-bit stereo, 44.1 kHz CD-DA
- Media
- CD-ROM, optional 56K modem
Release dates
- Japan
- 1996-03-28
- North America
- 1996-09-01
Lifetime sales
- Official figures
- ~42,000 units worldwide (one of the worst-selling home consoles ever)
- Community consensus
- Japanese Bandai @WORLD dominant / Atmark variant in NA / Europe never received
Internal figures from Apple/Bandai at the 1997 discontinuation
Hardware variants
Bandai Pippin Atmark
1996 JPJapanese launch model
Released in Japan on March 28, 1996 at ¥64,800. **An Apple-licensed home console architecture** — PowerPC 603e at 66 MHz, a stripped-down Mac OS 7.5.2, 4 MB of RAM, a 4× CD-ROM drive — manufactured and sold by Bandai. Positioned as a "console + multimedia + online" three-in-one, and weak at all three. **Total lifetime worldwide sales of under 42,000 units** make it one of the most spectacular commercial failures in home console history.
Bandai @WORLD (Pippin Atworld)
1996 NANorth American rebrand
Released in North America in September 1996 as @WORLD at $599 — white shell (vs. the Japanese black), English OS, and a 14.4k modem pre-installed. Apple wanted the @ symbol (then a fresh cultural marker of Email) to telegraph "this is the online console." But Bandai's North American retail presence was thin and advertising barely existed; **lifetime North American sales are estimated at just 12,000 units**. A landmark in the Apple Diversification Failures of the 1990s alongside the Newton, the QuickTake, and the Pippin itself.
AppleJack controller + disc-shaped pad
1996Boomerang-shaped controller
The standard Pippin AppleJack was a strange boomerang-or-disc shape — a center trackball (replacing the PC-style mouse for OS navigation) flanked by four buttons, with infrared wireless connectivity. The design philosophy was that "a home console should distance itself from the gamepad form and lean toward the multimedia computer." But the trackball was too imprecise for games and too slow for OS navigation — **it failed in both directions** and stands as a miniature of the Pippin's overall confused positioning.
Pippin Modem 14.4k vs. 28.8k upgrade
1996-1997Two-version network accessory
The Pippin Atmark shipped with a 14.4k modem; in 1997 a 28.8k upgrade module (PA-82001) doubled the speed. The Pippin's core pitch was the **"online console"** concept — pre-installed with Apple's Cyberdog browser and the Bandai @World portal. But Japanese household internet penetration was under 5% in 1996, and the learning curve for getting a console online was too steep — **most Pippin owners never went online at all**. It was a five-years-too-early experiment in online consoles, the line eventually mainstreamed by the 1998 Sega Dreamcast.
Katz Media Pippin / European version (cancelled)
1997 (cancelled)Cancelled European licensee
Across 1996-1997 Apple signed European licensing deals with Belgian Katz Media, UK Day-2, and others to localize and release the Pippin. But Bandai announced in April 1997 that it was exiting the Pippin business (cumulative losses over $100 million), and the European program never reached production. **The Pippin's worldwide software library totaled roughly 80 titles** (mostly Bandai-owned anime characters and educational software), and the platform was formally discontinued in 1998. Apple has never licensed a third party to build a home console since — the line all the way to 2024's Apple TV 4K is still Apple-only hardware. **The Pippin's lessons were burned into Apple's hardware-philosophy DNA.**
The Pippin is the strangest product decision in Apple’s entire history. During the Steve Jobs interregnum (1985–1997), Apple ran a long series of “Mac OS derivative” licensing experiments — strip Mac OS 7 down to a subset, run it on a PowerPC 603e, aim it at the home console and multimedia markets. In 1995, Apple signed a licensing deal with Bandai: Apple designed the spec, Bandai manufactured and sold the hardware. On 28 March 1996, the Pippin Atmark launched in Japan at ¥64,800.
The positioning was “console + multimedia + online terminal” — three in one. It was bad at all three. As a console: no Apple-published flagships, no third-party commitments (a Bungie Marathon port was the rare bright spot), a derivative Mac OS that booted at PC speeds, and an awkward disc-shaped controller. As a multimedia computer: ¥64,800 bought a Mac LC-class derivative, but couldn’t actually run real Mac software (the OS was only a subset). As an online terminal: in 1996 the home internet-appliance market simply did not exist (Japan’s i-mode arrived in 1999, the U.S. AOL boom didn’t translate to a console form factor). A textbook case of “three weak halves.”
Commercially the result was catastrophic. Roughly 42,000 units sold worldwide — putting Pippin among the very worst-selling home consoles in history, below Sega 32X, Atari Jaguar, and Virtual Boy. Apple and Bandai discontinued the platform in 1997.
But the historical importance of Pippin lies not in how much it sold — it sold nothing — but in how its failure shaped Apple’s subsequent strategy. The first thing Steve Jobs did when he returned to Apple in 1997 was kill every Mac OS licensing program (Power Computing, Motorola StarMax, and the rest). Pippin was the most embarrassing case in that licensing strategy — the case Jobs could point to. Without Pippin’s failure, there is no Jobs-era allergy to “cheap derivative licensing,” and arguably no iPod-iPhone-iPad doctrine of total vertical integration: Apple designs, Apple manufactures (or directly contracts), Apple owns the experience top-to-bottom. Pippin is the inflection point where Apple turned from a software-licensor into a vertically integrated brand.
Notable titles
- Marathon for Pippin (Bungie, 1996)
- Power Rangers Zeo: Power Up (Bandai, 1996)
- Super Marathon (Bungie, 1996)
- Yamaha Hello! Macintosh (educational)
- X-Files Unrestricted Access (Bandai, 1997)