Word: spindler
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...Michael Spindler, chief executive officer of Apple Computer, must be hoping bad things don't occur in fours. First, the company issued a recall on its new high-end laptop after two of them burst into flames at Apple offices. Then Apple reported that its quarterly earnings would be significantly below expectations, largely because the company could not produce computers fast enough. The third blow was Wall Street's swift reaction, which sent Apple shares plummeting by 15% of their value in two days. The fourth thing...
Apple's regular board of directors meeting is scheduled for next week, and the board will certainly be appraising Spindler's two-year-old reign. The ceo was brought in as the nuts-and-bolts guy to fasten the company back to earth after the board forced out the blue-sky guy, John Sculley. Now is it time to send...
...likely, say Spindler's supporters, who point out that he's well on his way to doing precisely what he was hired to do. Shortly after taking over, Spindler brought costs under control by laying off 2,100 of Apple's 13,000 employees. He broke with tradition by licensing Apple technology to outside firms that have begun manufacturing a wave of low-cost Apple clones, which could help the company by attracting cost-conscious buyers and increasing market share. And last year he began shifting production to the new Power Macintosh line of computers, a tricky task that involves...
Nevertheless, Apple is in trouble. For one, the demand for the new Power Macs has proved to be a mixed blessing. Anxious to avoid a repeat of 1993, when supplies of PowerBook laptops exceeded demand, Spindler's staff erred in the other direction, drastically underestimating the demand for the new line and failing to produce enough to meet orders. Apple expected growth for its computers to peak at 23% a year, a few points higher than the industry average for computers; demand growth, however, turned out to be a stunning 35%, says Tim Bajarin, a Silicon Valley computer marketing consultant...
...what will Spindler's own direction be? Despite rumors that his job may be in jeopardy, A.C. Markkula Jr., the chairman of Apple's board of directors, told the Wall Street Journal late last week that there are no plans for any management changes and pronounced Spindler "a very brilliant man." Of course, that's what they said about Sculley, after he stepped down...