Apple Computer Vs. The Big Apple

Rarely have such parallels existed between Apple, the computer company, and the Big Apple, the city.

After years of gloom, both are bursting with optimism and popularity and are being led by somewhat abrasive managers. More than once, naysayers have written the obituaries.

But wait, here's another: the MacWorld gathering of Apple Macintosh fans has moved to Manhattan, capital of the nation's media and a key target in the company's plans to recoup its famous high-tech glory.

MacWorld organizers shifted the East Coast's largest Mac event from Boston after several years of declining attendance and growing doubts about Apple's prospects in a Microsoft-dominated computer world.

Now on the rebound, Apple, by far the show's biggest exhibitor, returns to its core constituency, trying to draw the thousands of Manhattan professionals who develop and design Web pages, magazines and other media.

And if the Big Apple has plummeting crime, cleaner streets and a record budget surplus to boast about, Apple Computer Inc. has its own new pocketful of pride: snazzy new computers, stabilized management, and a stock price that has more than doubled so far this year.

In Apple's latest coup, Walt Disney Co. is expected to announce that it has developed a version of its Blast online computer service, targeted to kids, for Macintosh users. Previously, the Disney subscribers had to use Windows.

Apple's problems are far from solved. The pioneer of home computing has a paltry 4 percent of the U.S. market, down from 7.3 percent two years ago, according to Dataquest Inc. More and more consumers these days buy cheaper machines running on Microsoft's Windows operating system.

And the company is struggling to keep software developers in the Macintosh fold. Just two months ago, Apple scrambled to convince Intuit to reverse a decision to stop developing Mac versions of its popular Quicken personal finance software.

Like Steve Jobs, Apple's founder and interim CEO, New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani has a reputation as a brash manager known for iconoclastic methods - like his recent attempt to sweep street vendors off large swaths of downtown Manhattan to make room for pedestrians.

Jobs decided to give the keynote speech Wednesday in person, changing signals a day after Apple spokespeople said "scheduling conflicts" dictated that he would deliver the speech by satellite.

Jobs said the company will report its third straight quarterly profit next week for the quarter ended June 30.

For Apple's part, a main weapon in its comeback is the G3 line of Macintosh computers, powerful desktop machines that are being snapped up by creative professionals and other Mac users.

Whether Apple can draw these folks to its products is still up in the air. One question is the lack of a floppy drive in the iMac, which could turn off users still relying on the method for storing and transferring files.

By DAVID E. KALISH