Apple to Name Jobs as Chairman, Report Says

Troubled Apple Computer Inc., reaching back to its past in hopes of ensuring its future, plans to name its co-founder Steve Jobs chairman, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Cupertino-based Apple intends to make the announcement next week as Jobs gives the keynote talk at the Macworld Expo trade show in Boston, the newspaper said. The Chronicle cited several unnamed sources in its story, which appeared on its Web site and was to appear in today’s editions. Macworld magazine also reported in its online edition that Jobs would become Apple’s chairman. Sources, however, also said that Jobs’ appointment is not assured, pointing to the company’s history of changing plans at the last minute. Jobs, reached at his Palo Alto home, had no comment. Apple spokeswoman Katie Cotton said the company “absolutely cannot comment on rumors.” If Jobs is named chairman, it would end some of the speculation about who will lead Apple after the ouster earlier this month of Gil Amelio as chairman and chief executive. Amelio, hired 18 months earlier, reorganized Apple, but the company’s fortunes continued to erode. Jobs, who had left Apple in 1985, recently returned as an advisor after the company’s bought his Next Software Inc. to use its technology in the new Mac operating system. While Jobs, who co-founded Apple in 1976, has kept a low public profile, Apple watchers have said he’s become increasingly influential at the company.