On Monday, July 29, 2002, at 07:30 AM, Woo Lee wrote:
> Gil was/is a 'turn-around expert'. He's hired by a company, 'cuts the =
> fat'(he didn't stop Newton), returns a company to profitability, then =
> moves on to the next 'job'. He has a good track record. Too bad he =
> didn't expect $J's 'CEO-to-CEO ouster-plan'(history repeats) after =
> stream-lining Apple(something $J can't do).
Actually, if you read around a little bit (I recommend "Infinite Loop"
and "Apple: The Inside Story of Egomania and Business Blunders") the
ONLY company Gil "turned around" was National Semi. And although he made
the numbers there good for a quarter or two, many people at the company
(including the board) think he left the company in worse shape then he
found it. One said (paraphrasing), "Why didn't Apple ask us before they
decided to hire this idiot?"
>> The bottom line is that while the Newton is a technological marvel
>> that
>> still has no peers, it was a business failure.
>
> Advertising failure.
It's a little bit broader than that... it was a MARKETING failure. It
was bad handling of the press, it was a product without a target market,
and it was a product that was not changed as consumer preferences became
apparent. Apple could've had synchronization and a "Palm size" form
factor a year before the Pilot prototype began to ship, but they chose
not to. AND the advertising wasn't very good.
> Some superior products are stopped so that more profitable products
> can =
> sell better.
This is part of the reason the Newton was killed. Even if the Newton
could've begun to make a profit, it is likely that it was taking a lot
of business from the PowerBook group (EXTREMELY profitable), and
would've taken money away from the iBook when it became available. Plus,
the Newton OS did not fit into Steve's strategy for Apple (too many
operating systems); but he IS using some of its breakthroughs in OS X.
sj
http://homepage.mac.com/stevehj
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