Uh-oh... Cue the ominous music and cut to a commercial, because given the current mood surrounding Apple (what with the earnings warnings and the slack sales), every little organizational change takes on a whole world of significance. For instance, didn't it seem awfully convenient that less than two weeks after Apple broke the bad news on the earnings front, senior veep of worldwide sales Mitch Mandich announced his intent to retire at the end of the year? Sure, it might have been a coincidence. And Bill Gates might shave his head, paint himself purple, and win the role of the bunch of grapes in the cast for the new Fruit of the Loom commercials. We're just not counting on it, is all.

Once you shake that visual from your head, consider the latest shake-up over in the halls of Cupertino; faithful viewer Jens Baumeister informs us that, hot on the heels of Mandich's "retirement," Apple's veep of marketing communication Steve Wilhite has just turned in his notice. According to a MacWEEK article, "Apple did not state a reason for his departure," which, in light of recent events, makes us think that Wilhite "resigned" in much the same sense as Gil Amelio "resigned." We sense that Big Steve wasn't pleased with Little Steve's inability to keep the public buying Macs at the furious pace which Big Steve's scheme for world domination demands.

Of course, the other possibility is that Wilhite didn't walk the plank, but instead jumped ship of his own accord. That could mean one of two things, speculatively speaking. The first is that he's a rat scurrying to get off a sinking ship. This is the obvious interpretation, and the one that we figure is probably going to dominate the news reports and analyst commentary: Wilhite knows something about Apple's condition that the rest of us don't, and he's getting out while the getting's good. We fully expect Apple's stock to take yet another kick in the teeth once the rumors make the rounds.

The other possibility, though, is that Wilhite is the kind of guy who sees his duty, helps the downtrodden, and then moves on. (You know, like Caine in "Kung Fu." Or maybe more like Bruce Banner in "The Incredible Hulk.") Remember, he was the big cheese over in Volkswagen's marketing department and revived the sagging company with his startlingly effective ad campaigns for the New Beetle... at which point he bailed on VW and signed on with Apple. So perhaps he's confident that Apple now has the infrastructure in place to market the bejeezus out of the upcoming G4 PowerBooks, faster Power Macs, and Mac OS X and has left to help another company in need.

Then there's the Thanksgiving-apropo interpretation of Wilhite's departure: he couldn't stand the heat of reporting directly to Steve and got the heck out of the kitchen. Here's hoping Chef Steve's got something yummy in the oven, because without veeps of sales or marketing, it's going to take more than an Unturkey with all the trimmings to jumpstart Apple's sales again.