Apple Will Lay Off 75 at 2 Orange County Facilities

Apple Computer, suffering from sluggish sales along with the rest of the personal-computer industry, Tuesday confirmed layoffs of 75 workers at two Orange County facilities.

The computer maker said it will close its Irvine warehouse Aug. 1 and consolidate West Coast distribution operations at its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters. All 50 workers at the Irvine facility, one of six warehouses throughout the nation, will lose their jobs.

In addition, Apple acknowledged that it had eliminated about 25 jobs at its Garden Grove manufacturing plant in late March because of increased automation. The layoffs were the first this year to hit the 661 permanent Apple employees at the Garden Grove plant. Over the last nine months, the company has trimmed 850 temporary workers at the plant.

News of the layoffs came just one day after the company said it will stop making its top-of-the-line business computer aimed at the office market that Apple is trying to crack.

Although analysts say the latest announcements do not appear to be linked, they note that the moves underscore how the company is working to cut costs, automate operations and, perhaps most important, focus more attention on its Macintosh computer for the expanding and competitive office market.

“Clearly, the company is trying to tighten its operations and expenses,” said Douglas Cayne of the Gartner Group in Stamford, Conn., which does research on the computer market. “It’s unfortunate that they had to drop a product, but it makes sense.”

While Apple has not suffered in the current downturn any more than its competitors, it has found problems gaining a foothold in the office computer market.

Renamed Lisa, Cut Price

In 1983 the company introduced the Lisa, a sophisticated machine that quickly earned a reputation as too slow and too expensive to serve the general business market.

Earlier this year, hoping to spur sales and erase unpleasant memories, Apple renamed the Lisa the Macintosh XL and cut its price.

But, when the changes didn’t work, Apple decided to drop the product entirely, a move that leaves the company with only the basic Macintosh model for the office market.

However, by September, Apple expects to introduce a series of add-on Macintosh products that will allow it to handle more information in less time.