Apple to Make Announcement Today

Cupertino-based Apple Computer Inc. will delay until this morning an announcement about its restructuring plan, which is expected to include as many as 3,000 layoffs and the streamlining of its half a dozen product divisions, sources told The Times. The announcement was to have been made Monday after the stock market’s close, but details continued to be worked out late Monday as Apple Chairman and Chief Executive Gilbert Amelio met individually with executives to inform them of their new responsibilities. The reorganization is one of many options Amelio is considering in his effort to return Apple to profitability. The company lost $120 million in its most recent quarter. Separately, Apple Chief Technology Officer Ellen Hancock sent a letter to third-party software developers saying the company had decided on the Next Software Inc. “kernel” to be the basis of a new version of Apple’s Macintosh operating system. Next’s technology, acquired when Next was purchased in late December, was one of three options Hancock had considered. Next was started by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who has lobbied hard for the selection of the Next kernel.