Boss loss leaves Apple in the lurch

Gil Amelio has quit as Apple's chairman and chief executive, on the eve of the company's third-quarter results and the release of the next version of its Macintosh operating system.

The sudden resignation coincided with a temporary suspension of trading in Apple shares after the company's share price plummeted to within a whisper of its lowest level since 1985.

Apple's third-quarter results are due to be published tomorrow, and analysts are predicting they will show losses of up to $70 million (#41.4 million).

Leaving with Amelio is Apple's technology VP Ellen Hancock. She recently took responsibility for forging better relations with the critical Mac development community. Next week, Apple is due to launch version 8.0 of its MacOS.

Amelio has been temporarily replaced by chief financial officer Fred Anderson, while the company looks for a new CEO. Pier Carlo Falotti, head of Oracle Europe, has been tipped as a possible successor. It is not yet clear whether Hancock will be replaced.

Last week's developments cast grave doubts over Apple's future. Amelio joined the troubled company from National Semiconductor in January 1996, with a three-year vision to see Apple return to profitability. His most significant contribution came last December when Apple acquired NeXT and announced far-reaching plans for a new 32-bit operating system called Rhapsody.

But Rhapsody, based on NeXT's OpenStep operating system, is unlikely to arrive before Microsoft ships Memphis, the next revision of Windows.

Neither are Amelio and Hancock the first senior executives to leave Apple in recent months. In February Heidi Roizen stepped down as VP of developer relations. That same month Amelio's former right-hand man, Marco Landi, quit.

Apple also embarked on a major restructuring this year, and has seen the return of co-founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. The latter will now be expanding his involvement in the company.

Despite these efforts, the company has continued to struggle. Just two weeks ago Power Computing, the largest maker of Mac clones, announced plans to build Intel-based machines.

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