repercussions for a one man Bermuda-based company at the forefront of revolutionary entertainment technology.

Mr. Rick Morbey, who runs Five Rings, in Hamilton, was delighted when Apple signed consumer electronics expert Mr. Gasto Bastiaens from Dutch-firm Philips.

At Philips, Mr. Bastiaens helped invent Compact Disc Interactive, which is set to completely change the home entertainment and publishing industries.

Mr. Bastiaen's change of jobs signified that Apple had finally accepted that CD-I is the way forward for the multi-media industry. An Apple statement by: "He will investigate solutions for compatibility for CD-I and Apple media products.'' Instead of trying to push ahead with rival technology, Apple has shown it is ready to conform to generally accepted CD-I standards.

And that is good news for Mr. Morbey, who hopes to design computer software products for CD-I.

A CD-I player is a cross between a video cassette player and a music CD player and hooks up to a standard television set.

A CD-I disc looks like a conventional music CD, but instead of holding just sound, it stores a mix of sound, images (both still and moving), text, data and graphics -- all of them under the user's control.

"Having one standard is good for everyone,'' said Mr. Morbey. "What I believe has been going on in the background for some time is virtually a war for market share between consumer electronic companies and desk top computer people.

"Apple's appointment is a pretty strong move by a major computer maker towards CD-I as the standard for multi-media. That bodes well for anyone like me who's been working on it.

"Apple has always taken the view in the past that CD-I is something which was competing with its computers and this appointment is an admission to at least some degree they will go with the general standard. That's good.'' If Apple had decided to compete with CD-I, Mr. Morbey said there could have been a damaging consumer war similar to that of the 1970s when rival companies were promoting Beta Max and VHS video cassettes and players, with VHS finally winning.

"Having a general standard will mean that the public will have many manufacturers to choose from when they go out to buy a CD-I disc, just as they do with audio cassettes,'' said Mr. Morbey.

Although Five Rings has earned no income in its six year existence, during which it has spent $500,000, it hopes to cash in on the CD-I revolution once it takes off.

Initial predictions are that the multi-media CD-I industry could be worth as much as $14 billion worldwide by 1995, said Mr. Morbey.

The world's first CD-I player was launched in the US by Philips in April.

Since then, Sony and Kyocera have introduced them to Japan.