Apple Computer Inc. said yesterday that it had licensed use of its prized Macintosh operating system to Motorola Inc., the biggest company yet to strike a deal to use the software in its own products. Motorola said it would make some high-end computers and that it in turn also planned to license the software to other firms.

Executives offered only sketchy details about when Motorola might begin to sell computers that bear its own brand name and rely on the Macintosh operating system. Motorola already makes the microprocessors that are the brains of Apple computers. In addition, Apple, Motorola and International Business Machines Corp. have been working together to design a so-called "Common Hardware Reference Platform," a computer based on a Motorola chip that could run multiple operating systems. Such machines are expected to begin to reach the market in the second half of this year.

Analysts do not expect that Motorola will make large numbers of Macintosh "clones" itself. "At this point in time . . . {there are} no plans to put the Motorola brand {based on the Macintosh software} in the consumer market," Joseph Guglielmi, general manager of Motorola's computer group, said yesterday during a telephone conference call with reporters. "We think that tying the Macintosh operating system to our server strategy makes sense," he said, referring to sophisticated computers that are typically sold to businesses or large institutions.