If OpenTransport, GEO Port, and CyberDog is any indication, it's curtains
for the big A.
~~~
Published: April 30, 1996
Mercury News staff and wire reports
Apple Computer Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Gilbert Amelio said in his
first speech before investors
Monday that he does not plan any further write-offs as part of a
company-wide restructuring.
Speaking at a Hambrecht & Quist investor conference in San Francisco, Amelio
said the company does not
expect any ''mega-event'' to occur as part of the restructuring and added
that Apple this quarter will start
reducing the number of models of computers it sells.
''We have too many models right now,'' Amelio said, adding that he expects a
major cost savings will be
achieved by cutting down on the number of models from the more than 80 it
now sells.
The speech essentially repeated statements Amelio made to reporters and
financial analysts in telephone
conference calls on April 17, when Apple announced a record loss of $740
million for the quarter ended
March 29. Most of the loss came in the form of one-time charges to cover the
restructuring costs and the
lower value of the company's swollen inventory of aging Macintosh computers.
''I don't think we'll have to take any more charges,'' Amelio said after the
speech, his first public appearance
before investors since taking over the company Feb. 2, following the ouster
of his predecessor as chief
executive, Michael Spindler.
Amelio said reducing the total number of products and simplifying Apple's
structure would produce major
cost savings for the company, although he said this did not mean Apple would
eliminate whole categories of
products.
Amelio reiterated the importance of Apple's Newton personal digital
assistant and its Pippin television/game
project. He also said Apple would reduce the number of its products ''as
fast as we realistically can do that.
We will begin by the end of this quarter.''
Amelio did not entirely rule out the prospect that Apple might seek out a
strategic partner or investor,
although he has in the past flatly ruled out putting the company up for
sale. But he stressed that his top priority
was an independent turnaround.
''If, as a result of that strategy, it makes sense to align ourselves with
somebody, we will, but to think about
strategic alliances when you don't have a fundamental strategy is kind of
stupid,'' he told reporters.
During his address to a near-capacity crowd of some 800 investors, he
repeated that Apple is pegging its
restructuring strategy to the Internet, /the/ pervasive connectivity of
computers and the multimedia flourishes
for which it has been known as an innovator in the industry.
Amelio was conciliatory and direct about Apple's past problems, and said
there is much work to be done to
help bring the company back. That was a markedly different tone than that
set by Spindler, who was known
to be gruff and abrupt when Apple was faced with problems last year.
''These times are geared to give us a little humility -- we could also use a
lot of hard work and a little good
luck,'' Amelio said. ''We've made some key decisions in the past few months,
and we'll make a lot more
before it's all over.''
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