In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Apple Computer said Wednesday it will reschedule its QuickTime Live 2001 conference for early next year.

QuickTime Live, originally scheduled for Oct. 8-11 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., now will be held Feb. 10-14, 2002, at the same location, the company said. The conference features workshops, discussion sessions and product displays focused on Apple's QuickTime streaming audio and video technology.

"Many QuickTime developers and customers asked us to reschedule QuickTime Live to a less stressful time," said Philip Schiller, Apple's vice president of worldwide product marketing, in a statement.

In other news, Apple formed a distribution alliance with a business unit of Navarre, Minneapolis. Under the pact, unveiled Wednesday, Navarre Distribution Services agreed to supply third-party software to the Cupertino-based computer maker's retail stores and Web site store. Product initially will be shipped to Apple's distribution center for fulfillment, but Navarre Distribution Services eventually plans to ship orders directly to the stores and customers, Navarre said. The deal also calls for Apple to tap Navarre in establishing distribution for new Macintosh software publishers.

Apple plans to open 25 retail stores this year. In its 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the third quarter ended June 30, Apple said it expects to spend $85 million this year to open the stores. Apple also projected in the SEC report that its retail segment would break even in fiscal first-quarter 2002 and post a "slight profit" for fiscal year 2002.