A somewhat rare American version of Pippin, produced by Katz Media.
Apple went on a number of wild goose chases in the 1990’s, investing heavily in things like OS development with IBM and tablet computing. One project they actually got to market was Pippin, Apple’s first and only game console.
If you never knew Apple had a console, you’re not alone. Pippin was largely ignored outside of Japan, and even there it was a flop. A major part of the problem was that Apple didn’t really intend Pippin for gaming.
In the early to mid-90’s, CD-ROM multimedia was a big buzzword. Major publishers were pushing out reference works, educational titles and simplistic games on shiny optical discs. It seemed obvious that CD-ROM would migrate out of computers into mainstream electronics.
Pippin was a console-like device for running desktop-style multimedia content on your TV. As the Internet was starting to pick up steam, Apple threw in a rudimentary web browser and online service as well.
The Pippin controller had an unusual feature: a trackball.
Hardware-wise, Pippin was a PowerPC Mac, although one with a pad controller instead of a mouse. The software experience was simplified: the device booted off the CD-ROM and started whatever program was on the disk. The user never saw a Finder desktop.
Every Pippin disk had to contain a variant of Mac OS, and they were signed with a key provided by Apple. Apple licensed the hardware and marketing to the Japanese toy maker Bandai, who also produced the majority of Pippin software.
As it turned out, people didn’t really want a multimedia appliance, and certainly not one that cost $599. Pippin wasn’t really intended to compete with the Playstation or Nintendo 64, but that’s what it ended up being compared to.
Bandai only managed to sell 42 000 Pippins before pulling the plug. Apple has stayed out of the console business since. They have however found their own niche in the iPod Touch, which is now heavily marketed towards mobile gaming.
This has been part one in a series on forgotten technology.