Mac OS X to Ship with Highest-Quality Japanese Fonts and Expanded Character Set

MACWORLD EXPO TOKYO—February 16, 2000—Demonstrating its leadership in the Japanese design and publishing industry, Apple® today announced that Mac® OS X will include the highest-quality Japanese fonts available and the largest character set ever on personal computers, through an agreement with Dainippon Screen Manufacturing Co., Ltd., the premier font developer in Japan.

The fonts, made up of 17,000 characters in each of six typefaces, have been developed with an uncompromising focus on beautiful design and sophisticated aesthetics. All Mac OS X users, from publishing professionals to first-time computer users, will be able to easily create the highest-quality documents in Japanese, both on screen and in print.

“Capturing the beauty and richness of the Japanese language and kanji characters has always been beyond the capabilities of personal computers,” said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. “Now, with premium quality fonts and the largest character sets ever, Mac OS X will make high-quality publishing a reality in Japan for all customers—professionals and first-time users alike.”

The fonts are based on Dainippon's Hiragino, one of the most highly regarded fonts for professional publishing in Japan. Hiragino has a beautiful and elegant design for each character and also a balanced and consistent appearance across its Mincho and Gothic families.

The six typefaces will be provided in OpenType format, compatible with Unicode, with no device or resolution limitations for use on-screen and in high-quality output.

Mac OS X is a completely new implementation of the Macintosh® operating system, featuring state-of-the-art technology throughout, including a new graphic system called “Quartz” and an entirely new user interface called “Aqua.” Mac OS X is designed to make computing even easier for consumers, while simultaneously extending the functionality for professional users.

Mac OS X will be rolled out over a 12-month period. Mac OS X will go on sale as a shrink-wrapped software product this summer, and will be pre-loaded as the standard operating system on all Macintosh computers beginning in 2001. Mac OS X is designed to run on all Apple Macintosh computers using PowerPC G3 and G4 processor chips, and requires a minimum of 64 MB of memory.

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