| Steve Wozniak Returns To Restructuring Apple
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1997 FEB 5 (NB) -- REPEAT/By Patrick McKenna.
How many layoffs, the fate of the Message Pad and the Newton operating system,
and which executives stay or depart were all questions not answered in a
hastily orgainzed press conference by Apple Computer late this afternoon, as
the company unveiled another reorganization plan.
While the conference focused on minor details of reorganization, the return of
Apple co-founder Steven Wozniak was the only surprise.
According to Apple executive George Scalese, the company and Wozniak have been
in contact for several months. In the past two weeks those discussions
increased to the point of inviting Wozniak back to Apple as a member of Apple's
executive committee and consultant to Apple Chief Executive Officer, Gilbert
Amelio.
Information regarding Wozniak's new role and compensation was not immediately
available.
In a released statement about reorganization, Amelio said, "We are reshaping
our product development, sales and marketing efforts into simpler, leaner teams
that can quickly bring them to customers in our key markets. The organization
and team we're announcing today represent the right people, in the right
places, to bring Apple back to its basics and return us to profitability by the
end of the year."
In the recent past, Amelio opened a Macworld keynote saying Apple would not
longer respond to a crisis with a reorganization plan. Today, executives said
the company was not facing a serious crisis in spite of the company's stock
price hitting a 52-week low in the 15-plus range. According to Apple, the
company is moving forward and today's announcement is in preparation for year
in which Apple unveils the hottest products in the history of the company.
Under the new plan, Apple will operate under six key elements or offices:
Technology Office, Research and Development, Marketing, Worldwide Sales and
Support, Finance and Administration, and Operations.
Apple said more details about layoffs, executives, products and new strategies
would be gradually revealed over the month of February.
Reported by Newsbytes News Network http://www.newsbytes.com
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Date: Sat, 15 Mar 97 08:02:19 -0800
From: Guy Kawasaki <[email protected]>
Subject: Technology FAQ from Apple
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Apple Computer Restructuring: the Technology FAQs
Q. What are Apple's product priorities moving forward?
Much of the restructuring in software engineering is targeted to support
Mac OS and Rhapsody development plans. As before, Apple's goal is to
deliver market-leading, Internet-ready operating systems for its
customers and provide industry leadership in multimedia, human interface
design, ease- of-use, and plug and play. On the hardware side, Apple will
simplify its product line. This will allow us to deliver a much stronger
product portfolio that directly addresses Apple customer needs. This
process has already begun with recently announced high-performance Power
Macintosh systems, industry-leading PowerBook products, and the new
entry-level Macintosh products, scheduled to be introduced in April.
Apple has decided it will no longer invest in technology projects that
are not related to its core business, or that are better served by
adopting industry standards, or where third-party developers can provide
more compelling solutions.
Q. What's up with OpenDoc and Cyberdog?
A: We are moving more of our resources for component technology toward
Java-based technology, which is becoming the industry standard. OpenDoc
and Cyberdog will ship in Mac OS 8, but we are planning no major updates.
Apple will not port OpenDoc to the OPENSTEP APIs (sometime referred to as
the "Yellow Box") in Rhapsody, and this is a change from our earlier
announcements. The future of CI Labs is being worked out with the other
board members (IBM and Just Systems). Meanwhile, the source code for
OpenDoc remains available through CI Labs.
Q. What's up with Open Transport?
Apple is shifting its networking engineering development efforts to
Rhapsody. Open Transport will be maintained in Mac OS but will not be
ported to OPENSTEP in Rhapsody. OPENSTEP already supports a wide variety
of industry networking protocols through a standard "sockets" interface,
including TCP/IP and IPX. It should also be noted that the previously
announced upgrade to Open Transport (version1.5) has been canceled. Open
Transport will continue to operate in the Blue Box of Rhapsody.
Q. What's up with Games Sprockets?
Apple intends to maintain Game Sprockets API (applications program
interface) in Mac OS, meaning developers can still write to it. Existing
games using these interfaces should continue to work. No upgrades to this
API are planned and we do not plan to port it to the "Yellow Box" in
Rhapsody. It should be noted that applications that support Game
Sprockets in MacOS should run in the Mac OS compatibility area, or the
"Blue Box," in Rhapsody.
Q. What's up with AIX Servers?
Apple will concentrate on Rhapsody and Mac OS as our server operating
systems in the future. These host important solutions like AppleShare and
WebObjects. Apple continues to work on the next update of AIX
Software--version 4.1.5. After this version, no future upgrades are
planned. It should be noted that server hardware stays as part of the
Apple product line and will continue to be developed.
Q. What's up with QuickDraw GX?
As previously announced Apple is dropping the QuickDraw GX printing
architecture in favor of "classic" printing drivers in Mac OS. GX
developers can still use the advanced text and graphics capabilities of
GX through a shared library mechanism. We are investigating how best to
combine the text and graphics features of GX with Display Postscript to
build the imaging model in Rhapsody.
Q. What's up with video conferencing?
Apple will be discontinuing its video conferencing products and projects
after current commitments are met. video conferencing is an important
solution, and Apple will be investigating various third-party
opportunities for its video conferencing technology.
Q. Is Apple continuing to develop QTML technologies for the Windows
platform?
Yes. Apple continues to invest substantial amounts of engineering effort
to maintain and extend Apple leadership in cross-platform and
Internet-centric multimedia.
Q: What is the status of Mac OS Tools?
A: As developers would expect, Apple has decided to focus engineering
resources on developing a broad portfolio of tools for Rhapsody. Apple's
current Mac OS Tools are stable, reliable products. Additionally, the
market is well served by many excellent third-party products. As such, no
new versions of Mac OS development tools are planned from Apple.
Q. What about Newton?
New Newton products (MessagePad 2000, eMate 300) are now shipping, and
the products have been well-received. Apple is exploring a wide range of
options for future Newton business. We have no specifics regarding those
discussions at this time. The Newton Systems organization remains intact,
reporting to Jim Groff, senior vice president, as part of George
Scalise's group.
Q. What about Pippin?
Apple will continue to work with its current Pippin licensees, but will
not produce an Apple-labeled Pippin product.
Q. What's up with Apple's Imaging products?
Imaging remains absolutely an integral part of Apple's business and a
crucial component in the Company's unique "Plug and Play" solutions.
Q. If a technology is "maintained" in Mac OS, is that another way of
saying it's over?
No. Most of the elements of Mac OS today are maintained in this sense
today--yet customers and developers use them daily. Apple continues to
improve the reliability and performance of the overall system including
technologies that have not seen major updates in years. Furthermore,
these technologies will reside in Rhapsody as part of the Mac OS layer
(the "Blue Box") that will run today's software for years to come on a
faster, more reliable foundation.
Q. Is Apple discontinuing its Performa products? Are you abandoning the
consumer market?
Apple remains committed to the consumer market and plans to announce a
new line of entry-level products aimed at home, small business, and
education customers this spring. Apple does plan to phase out the
Performa brand name with the introduction of these new models, in favor
of the Power Macintosh brand. This is part of our overall product line
simplification and will end confusion for customers trying to decide
between Performa products and Power Macintosh models today, all of which
have PowerPC microprocessors.
Q. What's up with the release schedule for Mac OS?
As part of our reduction and simplification process, we are changing the
delivery schedule for future Mac OS releases. Instead of two full retail
releases of Mac OS in 1998 (Allegro and Sonata), Apple plans to ship one
complete release in 1998 (Allegro). It is targeted for mid-1998. To make
the latest system improvements readily available, we plan to ship two
system updates between Mac OS 8 (Tempo) and Allegro instead of one. The
schedule for Mac OS 8 remains unchanged with delivery anticipated in
summer 1997.
Meanwhile Apple plans to ship both the Premier and Unified releases of
Rhapsody in 1998, so the Company plans three major system releases next
year rather than two. While this does contribute to Apple's lower
financial expense goals, it is also a direct response to customer
feedback. Many companies and individuals have expressed concern over the
expense and logistics of upgrading their systems twice a year. With Mac
OS 8, Apple will have an excellent foundation for future Mac OS updates
and upgrades so the new schedule is more appropriate.
Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, MessagePad, Newton, Performa, Pippin,
Power Macintosh, and PowerBook are registered trademarks of Apple
Computer, Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks of the individual companies and are respectfully
acknowledged.
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