The Apple Pippin was a technology for a multimedia title player marketed by Apple Computer in the mid 1990s. It was based around a 66-MHz PowerPC 603e processor, a 14.4kbps modem and ran a cut-down version of the Mac OS. The goal was to create an inexpensive computer aimed mostly at playing CD-based multimedia titles, especially games, but also functioning as a network computer. It featured a 4× CD-ROM drive and a video output that could connect to a standard television monitor.
Apple never intended to release its own Pippin. Instead it intended to license the technology to third parties, a model similar to that of the ill-fated 3DO. However the only Pippin licensee to release a product to market was Bandai.
By the time the Bandai Pippin was released (1995 in Japan; 1996 in the United States), the market was already dominated by the Nintendo 64, Sony PlayStation, and Sega Saturn, game machines that were much more powerful than the more general-purpose Pippin. In addition, there was little ready-to-go software for Pippin, the only major publisher being Bandai itself. Costing US$599 on launch, and touted as a cheap computer, the system, in reality, was commonly identified as a video-game console. As such, its price was considered too expensive in comparison to its contemporaries.
Ultimately, Pippin as a technology suffered because it was a late starter in the 3D generation of consoles, and was under-powered as a gaming machine and personal computer. Bandai's version died quickly, only ever having a relatively limited release in the United States and Japan.
In May 2006, the Pippin was voted one of the 25 Worst Tech Products of all Time by PC World Magazine.