newsbytes@clarinet.com (02/04/90)
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1990 FEB 1 (NB) -- Apple Computer Chairman John Sculley, hoping to allay fears over Apple's future, promised a low-end Macintosh and more consistency in management, at the annual shareholder's meeting. Apple's chief told the crowd: "We can build an expectation that there will be more consistency in how we manage our business," and assigned much of the job to newly appointed Michael Spindler, chief operating officer. "With Spindler there is a better chance we can do it with less disruption than in the past." As Apple faces an imminent decision about layoffs, comes to terms with a 10 percent increase in profits compared to the previously anticipated 20 percent, and copes with an industry- wide slowdown, the company also seems to be rethinking its global strategy. Specifically, Apple is facing a battle in the price arena where competitors include IBM and compatible companies, whose offerings increasingly have the ease of use associated with Apple computers but are dropping in price far faster. Sculley told shareholders that the firm must note a market which is "changing at the lower end." Sculley admitted that the first-time user market is significant, but disappointed analysts at a meeting the next day by telling them that a low-end Mac would not come from the company this fiscal year, ending September 20, 1990. Sculley told one reporter that the delay in getting products to market could not be blamed on engineers, "It isn't getting engineers to work harder, they work extremely hard as it is. It's getting decisions to be made faster, and getting the integration between manufacturing and what's shipped in the marketplace and what is happening with the product decisions." Apple is expected to introduce the high-end IIXi Macintosh next month, but that offering will run in the area of $10,000, according to inside reports. (Wendy Woods/19900202)