Byte The Bullet Apple Computer Cuts 1,300 Jobs, Changes Sales Focus In Reorganization

Losing money and market share, Apple Computer Inc. decided Wednesday to become a different company, eliminating 1,300 jobs and abandoning some sales opportunities to other firms.

Apple said it will concentrate on “best-of-class” computers in its key markets, including desktop publishing and education. Such machines are more profitable than those in the entry-level consumer market, which Apple now plans to leave to companies that clone its Macintosh computer.

The changes are an “initial phase” of a reorganization Apple announced with its financial results for the last three months of 1995.

The company, as it previously warned, lost $69 million, or 56 cents a share, in the period, its first fiscal quarter. Apple earned $188 million, or $1.55 a share, in the same period in 1994.

Apple also forecast a loss for the second fiscal quarter and said that loss would be worsened by a $125 million charge to pay for the restructuring.

“The task in which Apple management and its board of directors is currently engaged is to utilize Apple’s strengths in order to position the company for long-term strength and success,” Michael Spindler, Apple’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

He called the work force reduction “a necessary first step.”

Apple’s troubles are complex. Industry observers blame its longtime reluctance to let other companies make the Macintosh, high development costs and changes in the personal computer industry.

In recent years, Apple has been increasingly hurt by competition with companies like Compaq and Packard Bell, whose computers are built around Intel Corp. chips and Microsoft Corp. software. Those machines have become easier to use, eroding the Apple Macintosh’s traditional edge.