On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple Computer

312 Pages·1998·63.326 MB·English

by  Gil Amelio, William L. Simon

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"Apple is on its way out of business. The only
thing that can save it is a strong leader, some
body who can rally employees, the press, users,
and developers."
- Steve Jobs to Gil Amelio, proposing himself
as Apple chairman several months before
Amelio was chosen by the Apple board
Gil Amelia's
hard-hitting and frank account of
his life as CEO of Apple Computer begins with this
astonishing, never-before-revealed encounter. Five
hundred tumultuous days later, Jobs himself would
play a prominent role in influencing Apple's board
of directors to fire Amelio.
On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple is Gil
Amelio's gripping and fast-paced recollection of
what happened, told from his unique perspective
as the occupant of Apple's hot seat. This is the
revealing story of how a proven high-technology
turnaround artist took on the biggest challenge of
his career-and perhaps his life.
Nothing could have prepared Amelio for the
chaos that greeted him when he took over as CEO.
First there was the reversal he suffered at the
hands of the in-house legal staff from day one that
rendered his highly touted compensation package
a sham. Then, rapidly, came the spiraling mael
strom of problems-financial, organizational, and
creative-that threatened daily to sweep him and
Apple into oblivion.
Amelio quickly uncovered the truth that the com
pany was hemorrhaging both dollars and talent. He
immediately plunged into a multifaceted rescue
effort that included an extensive fund-raising cam
paign to solve Apple's cash-flow problem and
fevered negotiations for a new Macintosh operating
system with luminaries such as Jean-Louis Gassee,
Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs.
In his own words, Amelio exposes a company that
continually undermines its own best efforts, with
financial officers using out-of-date systems that
(continued on back flap)
0598
On the Firing Line
ALSO BY GIL AMELlO AND WILLIAM L. SIMON
Profit Jrom Experience
On the Firing Line
MY 500 DAYS AT APPLE
Gil Amelio and William L. Simon
HarperB usiness
A Division of HarpcrCollinsPublishers
ON TilE FIRING LlNE: MY 500 DAYS AT APPLE. Copyright © 1998 b)' Gilbert E Amelio and
\.Villiam L. Simon. All rights reserved. Primed in the United States of America.
No pan of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
writ.ten permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles
and reviews. For information address HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd
Street, New York, NY 10022.
HarperCollins books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional
use. For information please write: Special Markets Department, HarperCollins Pub
lishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.
FIRST EDITION
Designed by Helene Wald Berinshy
ISBN 0-88730-918-6
98 99 00 01 02 •!•/RRD 10 9 B 7 6 5 'I 3 2 1
To Arynne and Charlene
Contents
Play on ix
1 A Winter's Tale 1
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I AM HIRED
2 Tight-Fisted Homunculus- 18
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MY CONTRACT GOES THROUGH HELL AND SO DO I
3 Borrowers and Lenders- 34
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SOLVING THE CASH CRUNCH
4 AT empest and a Brave New World- 47
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SOME BAD TIMES AND GOOD
5 Measure for Measure- 65
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WE HAMMER OUT A STRATEGY
6 Tragedy of Errors- 82
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MY MISTAKES BEGIN TO PILE UP
7 Two Gentlemen in Redmond- 101
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I CALL ON BILL GATES
8 o Done Well If Done Quickly- 110
SHAPING MY OWN EXECUTIVE TEAM
9 Nerd's Labors Lost and Found- 126
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SOLID GUIDELINES FOR NEW PRODUCTS
vii
*
viii CONTENTS
10 o A Piece of Work- 139
LAUNC HI NG THE QUEST FOR A
NEW OPERATING SYSTEM
11 o Crack of Doom 156
DYSFUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
12 o Once More to the Breach- 169
MORE BAD NEWS, AND WE COMPOUND
THE SALES PROBLEMS
13 o To Be or Not to Be- 185
WHETHER 'TIS NOBLER TO CHOOSE BE OR NeXT
14 o Much Ado 203
MACWORLDS LAMENTABLE, LAUDABLE,
AND LAUGHABLE
15 Discontented Winter- 225
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A REORGANIZATION I DON'T WANT BUT MUST DO
16 AV ery Palpable Hit- 236
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STEVE JOBS REVEALS HIS HAND
17 A Pound of Flash- 245
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PEOPLE WHO WANT A PIECE OF APPLE
18 o Bullets Wrapped in Fire- 260
1 AM DISMISSED
Epilogue: 273
TOMORROW AND TOMORROW
AND ALAS, POOR APPLE
Acknowledgments 285
Index 291
Play On
He who only sees business in business is a fool.
~
,.,. The unexpected is the nature of business, the nature of being a
.. CEO. In fact the unexpected began months before l became the
l.eader of Apple Computer. I was still running National Semiconductor
and had recently joined the Apple board when, one day, Steve Jobs
called.
I admit l was curious. Despite having many mutual friends, we
had never met. Vvhy was he calling? "l want to come over and see
you," he said.
I watched his approach through the glass wall of my office and
noted his athletic, bouncy swagger, weight balanced Loward the tips of
his toes-rather like a boxer, aggressive and elusively graceful, or like
an elegant jungle cat ready to spring at its prey.
He was shown into my office precisely on time, looking quite fit in
a classic long-sleeved sport shirt tucked precisely into well-pressed
slacks; the grungy tennis shoes were a predictable Jobs trademark.
(Within a few months, as Apple's CEO, l would be made to feel like a
superstar; I noted that Steve looked like one- gracefully maturing with
the luster of youthful glamour, a man who, I was abouL to discover,
hadn't lost his notorious charisma.)
I remember glancing down at my shined black wing Lips and think-
ix