Apple's new
thinking // Will Jobs' ideas save company?
When you lose $1
billion in a year's time, you'd better "Think Different," as Apple
Computer's new advertising slogan advises.
Apple co-founder and interim CEO Steve Jobs is doing just that, but whether the new thinking is different enough to pull up the struggling company will be judged by the computer market.
Apple, the inventor of the commercially viable personal computer, announced a series of company changes in a splashy presentation last week in Cupertino, Calif. Jobs kicked off the 90-minute festivities by emphasizing that Apple was following its own slogan: It's designing different, building different, and selling different. Jobs used three images as analogies for his three primary announcements: A chocolate chip cookie to emphasize the new, very fast G3 PowerPC chip being used in the new "G3" PowerMacs he announced. A shopping cart to emphasize that Apple's way of selling was changing to include a Web-based online store. And a screwdriver to emphasize that customers could now "build their own" Macs simply by surfing to the Apple Store Web site (www.apple.com). All three announcements were met with rousing applause by the assembled Mac-friendly audience, with the biggest round coming while Jobs and Phil Schiller, Apple vice president of hardware product marketing, demonstrated the new PowerMacs. Jobs had jump-started the announcements by showing the new G3 PowerMacs based on the fast PowerPC 750 (G3) chip, including three desktop systems, and a new PowerBook G3 notebook PC twice as fast as any other notebook computer. The new desktop machines, according to Apple, also offer better performance and lower prices for that performance than any other computer from any other manufacturer. Desktop prices start at $1,999 for units that outperform Pentium II-based Windows PCs costing half again as much or more, Apple said. My own test of pre-released G3s confirmed Apple's speed claims. For multimedia desktop publishing or digital video and audio editing, the G3's speed makes a big difference. The Apple Store Web site was created using the WebObjects Website development technology Apple acquired when it bought Jobs' old company, NeXT Computer Inc., in December, 1996, for $430 million. The Apple Store lets customers configure their own PowerMac models via the Web and then have them directly delivered to the home, office or school. Several rival computer companies already have established online stores, such as Dell, Gateway 2000, Micron and Compaq. The online stores concept forced Apple to rethink its manufacturing methods. Apple's new build-to-order methods emphasize more common parts among models, lower assembly costs and lower product inventories. The Apple Store initially will restrict its business to home and business customers in North America but will roll out support for education customers, plus customers in Europe and Japan, next spring, Apple said. During the first 12 hours that the site was open, Apple received more than 4.4 million "hits" and booked more than $500,000 in orders. Of course, 12 successful hours is not much in the recent negative history of Apple, but it's a start. Apple expects the pent-up demand for its ultrafast machines to sustain the sales frenzy for months. While adding this build-to-order direct sales capability, Apple is not abandoning more traditional sales venues. Noting that while Apple's value-added resellers were "terrific," "nowhere has the buying experience been as bad as the national resellers," Jobs said. To fix this, Jobs reiterated announcements Apple made the previous week - that the company is partnering with CompUSA to create Apple stores within CompUSA outlets. At last week's presentation, Jobs demonstrated the store-within-a-store concept using key Apple multimedia technology - a QuickTime VR virtual reality movie presentation of the Apple store within the CompUSA in Pleasanton, Calif. Using an image of Dell CEO Michael Dell with a bull's-eye superimposed on it, Jobs observed that Apple's new combination sales strategy will help Apple compete effectively with traditional PC vendors such as Compaq and build-to-order manufacturers such as Dell. "We're coming after you, Michael," Jobs joked. Close observers of Apple, though pleased at what they heard, were surprised that Jobs' announcements did not go further. "Frankly," one longtime Macintosh developer said, "we thought Steve would announce deals with Oracle Corp. and Lucent Technologies, not to mention that he was becoming permanent chairman and had found a new CEO." Some long-suffering Apple customers, it seems, won't be satisfied until Apple makes a complete turnaround. But after last week's announcements, those prospects look "possible, maybe even probable," said another long-term Apple partner.
Apple co-founder and interim CEO Steve Jobs is doing just that, but whether the new thinking is different enough to pull up the struggling company will be judged by the computer market.
Apple, the inventor of the commercially viable personal computer, announced a series of company changes in a splashy presentation last week in Cupertino, Calif. Jobs kicked off the 90-minute festivities by emphasizing that Apple was following its own slogan: It's designing different, building different, and selling different. Jobs used three images as analogies for his three primary announcements: A chocolate chip cookie to emphasize the new, very fast G3 PowerPC chip being used in the new "G3" PowerMacs he announced. A shopping cart to emphasize that Apple's way of selling was changing to include a Web-based online store. And a screwdriver to emphasize that customers could now "build their own" Macs simply by surfing to the Apple Store Web site (www.apple.com). All three announcements were met with rousing applause by the assembled Mac-friendly audience, with the biggest round coming while Jobs and Phil Schiller, Apple vice president of hardware product marketing, demonstrated the new PowerMacs. Jobs had jump-started the announcements by showing the new G3 PowerMacs based on the fast PowerPC 750 (G3) chip, including three desktop systems, and a new PowerBook G3 notebook PC twice as fast as any other notebook computer. The new desktop machines, according to Apple, also offer better performance and lower prices for that performance than any other computer from any other manufacturer. Desktop prices start at $1,999 for units that outperform Pentium II-based Windows PCs costing half again as much or more, Apple said. My own test of pre-released G3s confirmed Apple's speed claims. For multimedia desktop publishing or digital video and audio editing, the G3's speed makes a big difference. The Apple Store Web site was created using the WebObjects Website development technology Apple acquired when it bought Jobs' old company, NeXT Computer Inc., in December, 1996, for $430 million. The Apple Store lets customers configure their own PowerMac models via the Web and then have them directly delivered to the home, office or school. Several rival computer companies already have established online stores, such as Dell, Gateway 2000, Micron and Compaq. The online stores concept forced Apple to rethink its manufacturing methods. Apple's new build-to-order methods emphasize more common parts among models, lower assembly costs and lower product inventories. The Apple Store initially will restrict its business to home and business customers in North America but will roll out support for education customers, plus customers in Europe and Japan, next spring, Apple said. During the first 12 hours that the site was open, Apple received more than 4.4 million "hits" and booked more than $500,000 in orders. Of course, 12 successful hours is not much in the recent negative history of Apple, but it's a start. Apple expects the pent-up demand for its ultrafast machines to sustain the sales frenzy for months. While adding this build-to-order direct sales capability, Apple is not abandoning more traditional sales venues. Noting that while Apple's value-added resellers were "terrific," "nowhere has the buying experience been as bad as the national resellers," Jobs said. To fix this, Jobs reiterated announcements Apple made the previous week - that the company is partnering with CompUSA to create Apple stores within CompUSA outlets. At last week's presentation, Jobs demonstrated the store-within-a-store concept using key Apple multimedia technology - a QuickTime VR virtual reality movie presentation of the Apple store within the CompUSA in Pleasanton, Calif. Using an image of Dell CEO Michael Dell with a bull's-eye superimposed on it, Jobs observed that Apple's new combination sales strategy will help Apple compete effectively with traditional PC vendors such as Compaq and build-to-order manufacturers such as Dell. "We're coming after you, Michael," Jobs joked. Close observers of Apple, though pleased at what they heard, were surprised that Jobs' announcements did not go further. "Frankly," one longtime Macintosh developer said, "we thought Steve would announce deals with Oracle Corp. and Lucent Technologies, not to mention that he was becoming permanent chairman and had found a new CEO." Some long-suffering Apple customers, it seems, won't be satisfied until Apple makes a complete turnaround. But after last week's announcements, those prospects look "possible, maybe even probable," said another long-term Apple partner.
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