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Technology Stocks : Apple Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: George von Dassow who wrote (11041)	4/10/1998 1:25:00 AM
From: thedewar	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 213176

new to the thread but have been mac since 90. some recent news: RETURN TO TECHSERVER: NORMAL \|\| LOW-GRAPHICS Looking for Stock Quotes and Sports Scores in One Place? Click Here...CBS SportsLine Ousted Apple CEO discusses his tenure Copyright c 1998 Nando.net Copyright c 1998 The Associated Press SAN JOSE, Calif. (April 10, 1998 01:02 a.m. EDT nando.net) -- For Gil Amelio, Apple Computer Inc. is a company that never grew up. Apple's ousted chief executive officer blames its undisciplined culture -- the heritage of its exuberant youth -- for the difficulties he faced in trying to turn the troubled company around. "Apple is the only company I know of that when the CEO gives an order it's viewed as a suggestion," Amelio told a Silicon Valley audience Thursday evening. Amelio spoke to about 200 people in his only public appearance to promote his new, tell-all book, "On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple." Both in the book and in his talk, Amelio described his efforts to revive Apple, which in recent years has been bedeviled by shrinking sales as the overall personal computer industry expands. Amelio pointed to what he called his accomplishments: boosting cash reserves, fixing on a new software strategy and improving product quality. But he also acknowledged mistakes, namely predicting when Apple would start making money again, delaying an aggressive advertising campaign, and misjudging how far Apple would shrink before hitting bottom. In his Thursday talk, however, Amelio focused on Apple's culture. When he took charge of Apple in February 1996, Amelio didn't find the "hum" of discipline and common purpose he felt while visiting such competitive companies as Microsoft and Intel. "I found a situation that there was a lot of spontaneity and creativity, and while those things are good, at some point, when a company gets large enough, it has to do those things in measure," he said. Apple, Amelio believed, should be "wild and crazy" 5 percent of the time but businesslike the other 95 percent. "What we sort of did was have that upside down," he said. Compounding that was the ingrained attitude of many managers at Apple that the CEO was "some airhead" fit to deal with the public and shareholders but not to be trusted with making technical decisions, said Amelio, who has a doctorate in physics and holds 16 patents. In his book, Amelio also depicts himself as the victim of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, whom he describes as smart, charming, complex and less than straightforward. Amelio simply didn't believe Jobs' assurance that he wasn't involved in the ouster. "I have worked through my disappointment in the way Steve Jobs treated me, but shall never forget the pain of it," he wrote. Apple and Jobs have no comment to Amelio's book, said company spokeswoman Tami Begasse. Amelio acknowledged receiving criticism for telling tales and naming names. But he said he was as hard on himself as anyone else. "It is very much my personal story ...how I saw it," he said. "Someone else may have seen it differently, and they of course are entitled to their opinion." Amelio was head of National Semiconductor Inc. and enjoyed a reputation for turning around troubled companies when Apple hired him as chairman and CEO. But red ink, and doubts about Apple's future continued to accumulate, leading to Amelio's dismissal last July. In January, he joined The Parkside Group, where he leads the firms high-tech financing efforts. By CATALINA ORTIZ, AP Business Writer [ Global \| Stateside \| Sports \| Politics \| Opinions \| Business \| Techserver \| Health & Science \| Entertainment \| Weather \| Baseball \| Basketball \| Football \| Hockey \| Sport Server \| MAIN ] Copyright c 1998 Nando.net Do you have some feedback for the Nando Times staff?