Jobs back on board for Apple's Nextstep

In a surprise move, Steve Jobs has rejoined Apple as the company makesplans to take on an alternative operating system

Apple ended 1996 on a high note with the triumphant return of ousted co-founder Steve Jobs, now cast in the role of corporate saviour.

It had been widely expected that, following the collapse of its internal Copland project, Apple would turn to Californian startup Be Software for replacement next-generation technology.

But in the week before Christmas, astonishing rumours began to circulate in Silicon Valley: Steve Jobs, the mercurial pioneer who had co-founded Apple, been ousted in a management tussle and spent years bad-mouthing the company, might be about to return.

The rumours scarcely had time to sink in before Amelio made them official.

Jobs would indeed be returning to Apple as special adviser to the chairman and Apple would pay out $400 million - $350 million in cash and $50 million in retired debt - to acquire Next Software, the company Jobs set up when he left.

'We picked Plan A instead of Plan Be,' joked Amelio. Jobs said: 'I still have deep feelings for Apple and it gives me great joy to play a role in engineering its future.'

So how did he end up back in the Apple fold? The answer to that lies with Apple chief technology officer Ellen Hancock and her decision to return a phone call from some middle managers at Next Software. It was Hancock who put Copland out its misery, which set in motion a search for replacement technology. 'We were not going to be too proud to look outside the company for technology,' she said.

In mid-November Hancock returned a speculative phone call from two Next engineers who suggested Nextstep as a potential operating system. Hancock immediately set in motion talks between the two companies.

A potential Apple acquisition was an attractive option: it would provide liquidity and give Nextstep a mass audience that it had been denied until now.

'Steve is the visionary. I consider myself a general manager. I'm good at seeing that projects get out the door,' said Hancock.

The company has not yet revealed any details about the technicalities of the merger and its implications for the future of the Macintosh operating system. Some of these will become clearer at Mac World, promised Amelio.

But the real challenge for the triumvirate is only just beginning. 'The key is to convince developers of innovative new software products that they can make those products run best or only on your operating system,' said Jobs.