On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple [Hardcover]

Gil Amelio (Author), William L. Simon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 1998

The hard-hitting personal story of the former CEO of Apple, Gil Amelio. Here he offers an expose of corporate folly and his encounter with it over 500 turbulent days. Also covered is the enigma that is Apple; the icons of Silicon Valley; and the full story of the blame for Apple's failings.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It's hard to think of a company that has captured the public imagination as much as Apple Computer. The rise and fall of the business that single-handedly created the PC market and then let it slip away has been the fodder for several books, most notably Insanely Great by Steven Levy and more recently Jim Carlton's Apple: The Inside Story of Intrigue, Egomania, and Business Blunders. Now in On The Firing Line, former Apple CEO Gil Amelio tells his own story about his 500 days at Apple.

The book provides some insight into the significant events that occurred under Amelio's watch, such as Apple's failed in-house development of Copland, the search to license an operating system for the Macintosh, as well as details about those who would buy Apple including Sun Microsystems and Oracle. But the real focus of the book is Amelio's own frustrations in working with Apple's chaotic and undisciplined culture as well as Steve Jobs, the man who would eventually fire him. Although Amelio's account is at times overly self-serving, On the Firing Line is an interesting read that should interest most Macaholics.

Review

But if On the Firing Line won't win Amelio friends or restore his reputation, it will keep readers tantalized.... a fast-paced, heartfelt look at life as a Silicon Valley chieftain. And, oh, those war stories, which show powerful high-tech figures at their most vulnerable. -- Business Week, Peter Burrows

For the most part, though, On the Firing Line is not about payback. Indeed, it mostly reads like the work of a hit-and-run victim with enough presence of mind to jot down the license-plate number. On almost every page, Amelio conveys a sense of disbelief that he'd gotten himself into such a mess. -- The Boston Globe, Hiawatha Bray

Mr. Amelio's experiences--recorded with the help of William L. Simon--should be cautionary for anyone planning to take a job at a company with a high-tech, free-spirit ethos. -- The Wall Street Journal, Stanley W. Angrist

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 298 pages
• Publisher: Harperbusiness; 1st edition (April 8, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887309186
• ISBN-13: 978-0887309182
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,405,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A remarkable mix of pompousity, stupidity, and spite, January 26, 2000

By 

Bowen Simmons (Sunnyvale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple (Paperback)

On the plus side, there is a lot of unintential comedy in this book. Gil is very impressed with himself, as this from page 1 will show:

"Apple seemed a natural, considering my background as a Ph.D. technologist with a number of patents and my reputation as a business leader who had established a notable record for transforming ailing companies."

Whether this confidence was justified can be discerned in many places in the book, but I will always treasure this one from page 187:

"Solaris, on the other hand, is based on a programming language called Unix..."

For those not technical enough to be in on the joke, Unix is an operating system, not a programming language. While your average man-on-the-street might make this mistake, for a computer company CEO to make it is pretty funny/pathetic.

For those more into human emotion than technical humor, here is a lot of spite in here, mostly directed at Steve Jobs, as shown by this from page 269:

"The success I was creating threatened to get in the way of his plans. Betrayal, assassination, trashing of reputations are all part of the everyday tool kit of a person obsessed with power, control, or revenge."

Even as I type this I confess that I cannot even begin to imagine what success Gil is referring to: the billion dollar losses? the massive layoffs? the plunging sales?

As a bonus, the book has some fascinating contradictions. Take this from page 273, regarding the deal with Microsoft:

"Eager for a dramatic move, he [Steve] called Bill Gates and gave him the deal I wouldn't, handing over everything...But he failed to get the one essential element...Instead he settled for cash, a sum Microsoft could write a check for without blinking."

So Gil doesn't like the deal right? He thinks Apple got taken. But then there is this from the next page:

"It bristled me no end to read in the newspapers about Steve making a deal with Bill Gates, as if no groundwork had been laid"

Thus, we are left with the puzzling conclusion that Gil thinks it was a terrrible deal, and is very resentful that he got no credit for it.

To wrap up, I am conflicted about giving this book only one star, because there is genuine entertainment value in it, in much the same way that "Plan 9 from Outer Space" has entertainment value: as a dazzling bad instance of its type. Hopefully this review, independent of the rating, will give the reader a better idea as to whether or not this book is the type of reading material he will enjoy.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Bedtime for Gil, August 18, 2001

By 

Peter Clark (St. Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple (Paperback)

See Gil. See Gil run apple. See Gil get fired. Poor Gil.

This book has some interesting observations about apple culture, and a couple lessons for tech managers, but it's also full of self-congratulatory prose, with an occasional good dollop of self-pity. It's also written at around a 4th grade level - there were lots of opportunities for deeper analysis of what happened at apple, why Gil's strategies for turning the place around might have worked or might have failed, NeXT vs Be, and how apple changed as an organization. Unfortunately, Amelio and his co-author never delve into the details.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent account of Gil's reign at Apple., April 10, 1998

By 

WB1 - See all my reviews

This review is from: On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple (Hardcover)

First I must admit that I wanted to read this book because I lived through three Apple CEO's, when I worked there. When I left Apple Gil was still CEO, but I didn't have much respect for him. One of major complaints was that I saw Gil saying how things were bad, needed to change, and he was making changes, but I saw little in the way of change. However, what I didn't know at the time was how he struggled to get head Apple managers to do what he felt needed to get done. This was a major source of his frustration.

This book was very well written and certainly a must read for anyone interested in corporate politics, Apple's corporate culture, and how twisted things can get in the newspaper. Obviously this book points to only one-side of the story, the newspapers have also only printed only one-side of the story. The truth of events that took place during Gil's time as CEO will probably only be known to a handful of people, but I suspect this book and this side of the story tells it much closer to the way it really happened.

This book I'm sure was painful for Gil to write, as it is any time things don't work out the way you want them to, however I'll wager that it was also a healing process for Gil. I know it was a healing process for me to read it as a former Apple employee.

A must read for any Apple employee.