Apple rank and file paralyzed

| special feature On D-day at Apple Computer employees are characteristically busy, but not with the kind of enthusiasm that made their

	Apple execs question Amelio leadership go to story
	Financial health has a cost go to story
	Productive moves for Apple go to story
Apple rank and file paralyzed
	Apple faithful won't give up go to story

company a household word. They are working the phones, revising their resumes, and preparing for job interviews.

"In the old days, the spirit was really something that set us apart, but it's been gone for a long time now," said one employee as she awaits an anticipated severance package to carry out the door. "No one has that burning passion anymore."

Passion is a word that has long been associated with Apple (AAPL). When Steve Jobs founded the company with Steve Wozniak in what eventually would become California's Silicon Valley, he pledged that Apple would "change the world"--a revolution that would be driven by his devoted congregation of programmers and engineers.

689K 999K CEO Gil Amelio on employee creativity in Sept. 1996 interview

And it is this very kind of inspiration that CEO Gil Amelio wants to rekindle--in no small part with the return of prodigal son Jobs--to help lead the crusade. The support of the rank and file is perhaps more crucial than ever to Apple's future as it faces the layoff of 2,700 full-time employees on top of dwindling market share, plunging revenues, mounting losses, and stock that is trading at its lowest price in a decade.

But unlike years past, when the Apple faithful have endured rumors ranging from buyouts to bankruptcy out of undying loyalty, today's employees are showing a collective weariness and skepticism that has been unusually absent in the company's history.

The change is understandable: Today's layoffs erase almost 25 percent of Apple's workforce.

"There is no one here that feels safe. It's sad," said one worker has been laid off twice and rehired during her tenure at Apple. Each time she has returned, it has been with a little less enthusiasm as projects previously started were canceled.

Through Apple's once-electrified hallways, productivity came to a "screeching halt" in the weeks preceding today's layoff announcement, said a marketing manager who asked not to be identified. Many employees have been quietly preparing their resumes and using sick time to go out on interviews, she added.