November 3, 1995

ANOTHER TOP EXECUTIVE LEAVING PERSONAL COMPUTER PIONEER

By CATALINA ORTIZ
AP Business Writer

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Apple Computer Inc. is losing another top executive in another reorganization.

Daniel L. Eilers, who became Apple's head of marketing only seven months ago, is out in a reshuffling that gives the company's geographic regions greater independence and left him without a real role.

The reorganization and Eilers' resignation as senior vice president for worldwide marketing was disclosed by industry observers Wednesday and confirmed by Apple this morning. Eilers did not return a telephone call Wednesday.

"We appreciate the contribution Dan has made in helping us crystallize our market segmentation strategy," Apple chief executive Michael Spindler said in a statement, calling the realignment "the latest in a series of steps Apple is taking to grow its leadership position in its key customer segments and geographic markets."

Eilers' departure comes less than a month after Apple's top finance executive resigned in a rift with Spindler over the company's future. Two other top executives left earlier this year.

Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies Research International in San Jose, said highly placed company sources told him there was no rancor between Spindler and Eilers.

"As a result (of the reorganization) Eilers and Michael Spindler concluded they did not need a vice president of worldwide marketing any longer ... and he would leave the company," Bajarin said.

But Mark Hall, editor in chief of MacWEEK magazine, said Eilers and Spindler agreed on decentralization but differed on who would make final decisions. Eilers wanted that authority while Spindler wanted each geographic region to have it.

"I think Eilers wanted to work with Spindler but under different terms, terms Michael was not willing to accept," Hall said. MacWEEK, citing unidentified sources, published its report of Eilers' departure in its online edition Wednesday evening.

The two executives agreed that giving different regions more say in sales decision would enable Apple to respond more quickly to customers and help boost market share, Bajarin said.

Eilers, who will stay on during a transition period, was head of Apple's Claris subsidiary until this past April. He was named Apple's senior vice president for worldwide marketing in a reorganization that consolidated all product development in one division and formed another to handle marketing.

"I think ... this wouldn't send a good message to investors or to the development community," said Pieter Hartsook, editor of The Hartsook Letter in Alameda, Calif. "It would be regarded as instability."

Eilers is the second top executive in the past month to leave the personal computer pioneer. In early October, Apple's highly regarded chief financial officer, Joseph A. Graziano, announced his resignation.

Graziano had wanted Apple to consider a merger with another company but Spindler, backed by the board of directors, wanted to keep Apple independent.

Eilers and Graziano had been close, but the marketing executive's departure had nothing to do with the CFO's, Bajarin said.

"I asked, 'Was this a result of Graziano's losing the battle

with Spindler?"' Bajarin said. "But they said, 'No, Eilers was

very much behind this move. ... He's the one who came to the realization" that his position should be dissolved.

Hall, however, disagreed.

"This says two things to me. It says Michael is clearly in charge and wants to run his organization his way. It's his job that's on the line, and he has a clear idea of how he wants things done," he said.

"And this is a difference in Apple's philosophy. It used to be ... there was a lot of room for interpretation of how you implement Apple strategy. I don't think that's going to be the case any more," Hall added.

Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., has seen its share of the personal computer market eroded by industry-dominating PCs using Intel Corp. chips and Microsoft Corp. software. While it has made recent gains, analysts believe Apple needs to retain and expand it in order to keep software developers writing programs for the Mac.

Eilers' departure and the reorganization emphasizes that Spindler's chief goal is to increase market share, Bajarin said.

"They needed to make sure they had a business or economic model that allowed them to do that," he said. "It appears they concluded the only way they could do that is free up the geographic regions to be more responsive to the customer."

Two other top executives left the company this year. Ian Diery, executive vice president in charge of computer products, left in the April reorganization, and Frank Seiji Sana, head of Apple in Japan, resigned in June.