Of course, it will take more than PowerBooks in a hot summer movie to launch a full-scale Apple resurgence. In fact, it will take nothing less than the successful implementation of the plan (actually, plans) Apple announced this week. But these plans offer a very strong indication that the company is back on track.

Amelio's topline plan reorganizes Apple into eight logical divisions, each with P&L responsibility: the Advanced Technology Group (R&D), Alternative Platforms, Apple Assist (customer support, including new online options), AppleNet (Internet technologies), AppleSoft, Imaging (cameras, printers, scanners), Information Appliances (Newton, Pippin), and Macintosh. It was also announced that:

• Java will be incorporated into every Apple OS (Mac, Newton, Pippin).
• There will be an interim Mac OS release, code-named "Harmony," which will incorporate many features from Copland (now officially known as Mac OS 8).
• The Mac product line will be streamlined, from over 80 models to around 40.
• Every Mac will ship with 12 MB of RAM as the basic configuration (no other PC maker currently offers this).
• Apple and IBM will jointly develop and sell a subnotebook computer running the Mac OS prior to next year's introduction of the PowerPC Platform.

Dr. Larry Tesler, Apple's chief scientist and VP of Internet Platforms, used the conference to outline the company's Internet strategy. (Amelio's and Tesler's remarks may be heard in full on the WWDC Webcast site.) The strategy here is fairly self-evident: Apple will build on the Mac's strengths as a content-creation platform (more multimedia sites are created on the Mac than on any other computer) and as a powerful, easy-to-use Internet server (Apple has supplemented its Mac server models with UNIX machines). In addition, Apple will continue to improve Internet access on Macs while adding Internet connectivity to the Newton and launching an Apple-branded Pippin as a Web browsing machine. Finally, Apple will expand its Internet content business, of which Salon already stands as a shining example.

Achieving all of these objectives in a coordinated and timely fashion is a tall order for any company. But, as Apple slyly acknowledges with its co-promotion of Mission Impossible, the company has overcome adversity many times in the past. It gives every sign of being ready to do so again.

(Reviewed May 20, 1996)