Apple co-founder named interim CEO
Sept.
21, 1997
By JIM BROOKS
On Tuesday, Apple Computers officially named Steve Jobs, one of
the company's founders, as its interim CEO.
While Jobs has been serving officially as an "adviser"
since his computer software company was purchased by Apple last
December, unofficially his influence has been much broader.
The CEO title makes official what he's been doing behind the scenes,
analysts say. And who can blame him for taking the opportunity to
rescue the company he helped to start?
A number of Apple executives have departed following the ouster
of former Apple CEO Gil Amelio -- most recent to leave was Guerrino
De Luca, a key marketing manager and Jobs supporter.
Insiders say that De Luca was unhappy with the direction Jobs is
taking Apple.
Industry watchers say that while Jobs' official role as CEO may
boost the company's fortunes in the eyes of Macintosh users, the
title may make hiring the next CEO more difficult.
"It's fairly obvious that Steve has a strong personality and
he has a tendency to make his managers leave," said Dataquest
Inc. analyst James Staten in a recent Reuters interview. "Jobs
being in the interim position doesn't make it any easier to get
a permanent CEO."
Jobs held the post of CEO early in the company's history, but was
ousted in 1985 after conflicts with the company's board of directors.
He was hired back by former CEO Amelio in December after Apple purchased
his company, and returned to power about two months ago when he
cleared the company's board of directors, placing himself and computer
industry leaders as members.
WIN98 DELAYED. The arrival of Windows 95's upgrade has been
pushed further back, Microsoft announced this week.
The upgrade will be available in the second quarter of 1998, rather
than the anticipated "around Christmas" release date.
The delay is attributed to Microsoft's desire to create an upgrade
package they can also sell to users of the older Windows 3.1x operating
systems.
Initially, Windows 98 -- which has been called more of a minor
upgrade than a major renovation of the Win95 operating system --
would have only upgraded current users of Windows 95. Microsoft
would have released an upgrade package for Windows 3.1x users at
a later date.
The delay is an indication the company is courting Windows 3.1x
users, and there's a good reason why.
Windows 95 -- which was released with much hoopla in August 1995
-- only recently surpassed the Windows 3.1x operating systems in
popularity. About 10 million computers still use the older versions
of Windows, while Windows 95 users number about 11 million.
With all those older operating systems still in use, there's a
considerable opportunity to lure users into upgrading. And Microsoft
ended its official support of Windows 3.1x systems this summer,
hoping to send a message to users that it's time to upgrade.
Microsoft wants all the users of Windows to be on one sheet of
music -- Windows 98. Pricing for the upgrade will probably determine
just how popular the unified package becomes next year.
WEBTV UPGRADE. WebTV was quite a novelty last year when
the company debuted its first unit in time for the Christmas shopping
season.
The WebTV's under-$400 price tag got you a TV set-top box similar
to a VCR that displayed the World Wide Web and let you send and
receive e-mail on your home television.
The company -- now a subsidiary of Microsoft -- announced this
week a major update to its product line.
The WebTV box will now include a television tuner, allowing viewers
to simultaneously watch TV and surf the Web -- a task current WebTV
units aren't capable of doing.
The upgrade also adds some features lacking on the original units,
which analysts say would let WebTV reach a wider market. It includes
a processor that runs at 167 MHz and a 56k modem.
The company has sold about 90,000 WebTV units since its debut late
last year.
WebTV has some competition waiting in the wings as other companies
will be rolling out their own products later this year, trying to
stake a claim in what may be the next big consumer electronics product.
ZIP AWAY. Iomega, the maker of the popular Zip drive, announced
this week that global sales of the units had reached 8 million.
The drives use disks similar in size to normal 3.5-inch floppy
disks, but hold about 70 times more data.
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