By InfoWorld Electric staff
Posted at 4:50 p.m., PT, March 5
Apple Computer will announce its restructuring plans on March 14, the
company said, and take a charge against second-quarter earnings to
cover the expense of the layoffs. In an internal memo to all staff
members, Apple CEO Gil Amelio said, "On March 14 we will then give
more details about what we will do, what we won't do, the number of
layoffs to be made, and the charge that we will make to our
second-quarter earnings." However there are no details as to how many
layoffs there will be or where those layoffs will occur. "Anything
that you read in the press is pure speculation," Katie Cotton, a
spokeswoman for Apple, said Wednesday. "This probably is the most
significant reorganization that I have seen in all the years I have
been watching Apple," said Pieter Hartsook, vice president of Apple
marketing, analysis and research. "This seems to be an honest attempt
to significantly restructure the company. " Others were less
optimistic. "Apple has to stop this financial bleeding," said Tim
Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a software consultancy in
Cupertino, Calif. "I would expect them to shed between 4,000 and 5,000
employees. In the end, the company's Newton division and Imaging
divisions may suffer."