Next Generation Peer-to-Peer Network to be Content-Owner Friendly; AppleSoup Also Announces Key Investors and Advisors

AppleSoup will give consumers broad access to material currently not available on the Internet -- without endangering intellectual property rights -- by technically assigning rights management rules and procedures to copyrighted content. These technical advances allow content owners to control, distribute and even sell their content via AppleSoup's extremely scalable and viral peer-to-peer network.

The peer-to-peer platform is emerging as one of the most powerful platforms on the Internet. AppleSoup's peer-to-peer solution connects members' hard drives to create a global, virtual library of non-infringing content. When a member requests a specific piece of digital content, AppleSoup sends him or her directly to another member's hard drive within a matter of seconds to retrieve the file. The platform makes a plethora of specific, valued information available to the masses, without the cumbersome scalability issues of the central server model.

``Harnessing the peer-to-peer platform to distribute information over the Internet has enormous potential, as anyone can see from Napster's meteoric user base,'' said Frank Biondi, chairman of Waterview Advisors, LLC. ``The reason the entertainment community has yet to embrace such services has been a fear of copyright infringement. AppleSoup has succeeded in finding a way to offer a depth of content to consumers, without violating anyone's rights or intellectual property.''

AppleSoup also announced the investors who participated in the company's $2.5 million seed round. This elite group of investors and advisors includes:

    -- Bill Krause, president of LWK Ventures.  Krause is known as the early
       founder, and former president and CEO of 3Com Corp.  He also holds a
       seat on AppleSoup's board of directors.
    -- Fred Gibbons, partner, Venture-Concept.  Gibbons was the founder and
       CEO of Software Publishing Corp., as well as an early investor in
       Yahoo!, Junglee, Vicinity, MIPS, Trading Dynamics, Garage.com, and
       Fogdog.  He also holds a seat on AppleSoup's board of directors.
    -- Palo Alto Investors, a Palo Alto based institutional money management
       firm founded by Will Edwards.
    -- Frank Biondi's Waterview Adivors, LLC.  Biondi has also served as
       former chairman and CEO of HBO, president and CEO of Coca-Cola
       Television, president and CEO of Viacom, Inc., and chairman of
       Universal Studios, Inc.
    -- John Valenti, co-founder of Creative Planet, a business-to-business
       Internet service resource for the entertainment industry.
    -- Allen DeBevoise, chairman and CEO of Creative Planet.
    -- Brian Pinkerton, chief science officer at Excite@Home and inventor of
       WebCrawler, the Internet's first search engine.  WebCrawler was
       acquired by AOL and later Excite@Home.
    -- Yosi Amram, CEO of Valicert, chairman of ON24 and former founder and
       CEO of Individual, Inc.
    -- Kim Polese, CEO of Marimba

``We've assembled an outstanding team of backers and advisors who believe in what we're accomplishing,'' said Bill Bales, president and CEO of AppleSoup. ``We are fortunate to leverage the expertise of these technology and entertainment leaders. It is a great fit, and one that validates content owners' support for our copyright-friendly approach.''

Founded in January, AppleSoup is the result of a longtime partnership in cutting-edge online media. President and CEO Bill Bales, previously co-founded Quote.com, which was sold to Lycos; he later founded ON24 -- recently named an Upside Hot 100 Private Company. After ON24, Bales invested in and incubated Napster, serving as its VP of Business Development until December, when he left to co-found AppleSoup with Adrian Scott, AppleSoup chairman and VP of Engineering.

Scott, a technological mastermind who earned his Ph.D. degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at the age of 20, consulted for Charles Schwab, Hewlett-Packard and Bank of America before becoming an angel investor and advisor to start-ups. Scott was the first person Bales called to get involved with Napster's funding and technological development.

``Bill and I had a tremendous experience helping Napster get off the ground,'' said Adrian Scott. ``We recognized the unstoppable force of peer-to-peer networks. We're not doing music, we're taking peer-to-peer in new directions.''

About AppleSoup

AppleSoup is privately held and based in San Francisco, Calif. With more than 30 employees, AppleSoup is working to produce a next generation peer-to-peer network that lets content owners distribute ``anything digital'' via the Internet while giving them a way to control and monetize their intellectual property. For more information, send email to info@applesoup.com.

SOURCE: AppleSoup