Apple Expected to Announce Rehiring of Jobs

In a remarkable rapprochement, struggling Apple Computer Inc. is expected to announce today that it is rehiring company co-founder Steven Jobs in an attempt to bring the once-storied company back to its glory days, sources said Thursday.

Jobs, who started the personal computer revolution by co-founding Apple but was unceremoniously fired in the mid-1980s in one of the most celebrated dismissals in American corporate history, will be advising Apple’s effort to update the operating system that controls the basic functions of its Macintosh personal computer.

A new Macintosh operating system has been eagerly awaited by Mac users and software developers who believe it is desperately needed to help the once-innovative machine keep pace with rivals that use software from giant Microsoft Corp. The choice of the new Mac operating system was thus seen as one of the most critical decisions in Apple’s history.

Jobs will be hired as a part-time consultant and technology “guru” in charge of the software project, sources said. Apple will buy the operating system software for a nominal fee from Jobs’ struggling company, Next Inc., which won out for the work over Sun Microsystems Inc. and start-up Be Inc. Jean-Louis Gassee, former Apple technology chief who is head of Be, lost the deal because he had asked a price rejected as too high by Apple, sources said.

To be sure, the mercurial Jobs could make 11th-hour demands that could scuttle the arrangement. Apple Chairman Gilbert Amelio is scheduled to make the announcement today at a news conference at Apple headquarters here.

An Apple executive, who declined to be identified, confirmed the report along with sources at both Sun and Be.

Jobs was fired from Apple after a power struggle with then-Chief Executive John Sculley, who Jobs hired. Since then, Jobs has had a mixed record of success and has had no activity with Apple.