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Stevulation: All The Rage (1/31/01)
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While both Bill Gates and Mike Dell are wowing crowds in Europe with their well-choreographed Steve Jobs impressions, the love doesn't stop there. Evidently Mr. Dell is a trend-setter in the high-tech industry, because Steve emulation seems to be all the rage these days. The latest bigwig to get fitted for a black turtleneck? According to faithful viewer EMan, it's one Ted Waitt, the ex-CEO of Gateway-- or should we say, ex-ex-CEO. As reported by ZDNet News, Mr. Waitt has "pulled a Steve" in a far different fashion than both Gates and Dell; instead of copying his strategies, product designs, or speeches, Ted is following in Steve's footsteps by returning to the beleaguered computer company he once ran in hopes of pulling off an impressive turnaround.
Gateway, currently battling "disappointing earnings statements, layoffs, and a plummeting stock price," bears at least a superficial resemblance to Apple just prior to the Second Jobs Dynasty. (Actually, it doesn't sound all that different from today's Apple, come to think of it-- but we digress.) Of course, Gateway's scenario lacks some of the epic grandeur of Apple's fairy tale struggle back from the brink of disaster. For one thing, Gateway isn't suffering too much worse than the rest of the industry right now, while in 1996 Apple lost about a billion dollars and looked ready for the scrap heap. For another, whereas Steve cofounded Apple in a garage, was ousted by a man he hired, and returned only after twelve years of wandering the desert, Waitt left only a year ago-- of his own accord. So Gateway's story is sort of a less majestic, less dramatic Reader's Digest version of the Apple story. (There's also the fact that Waitt still has to accomplish his happy ending.)
Despite the differences, though, it's tough to ignore the basic "CEO Returns To Save Floundering Personal Computer Company" angle. It's nice to see that Steve's appeal is starting to spread within the high-tech CEO community. Why, we wouldn't be surprised if next week Mike Capellas was spotted wandering the halls of Compaq barefoot and wearing cut-offs...
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SceneLink (2834)
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 1/31/01 episode: January 31, 2001: ATI is getting the boot-- but it'll take over a year for nVIDIA to take its place. Meanwhile, Mike Dell finally catches up to Bill Gates and echoes Steve's "PC as digital hub" sentiments, and Ted Waitt pulls a Jobs himself, as he returns to Gateway to try to save the faltering company...
Other scenes from that episode: 2832: The Long, Slow Good-Bye (1/31/01) The other shoe has finally dropped-- though it'll take over a year for it to hit the ground. It's no secret that Apple (meaning Steve Jobs) has been less than thrilled with OEM graphics chip supplier ATI for some time now... 2833: Steves, Steves Everywhere (1/31/01) We know what you've been thinking: if Steve delivered his "the personal computer is not dead / the personal computer as digital hub" keynote on the 9th, and Bill Gates made his suspiciously similar "the personal computer is not dead / the personal computer as digital core" speech this past Monday, just where the heck is Mike Dell?...
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