Same old song from Amelio

Internet World LOS ANGELES--Two days before revealing a major restructuring and layoffs, Apple Computer (AAPL) chairman Gil Amelio said today that Apple's future will remain linked to the Internet.

"We recognize that Apple's future, like yours, is on the Internet," Amelio said in a keynote address at the Internet World trade show. "Our position in Internet publishing is one of our brightest spots. Far from jeopardizing our commitment to Internet publishing, Apple's restructuring will allow us to broaden it."

The Internet plays to Apple's strengths in the publishing industry, Amelio added. "It's becoming clearer each year that Internet is about content. If content is king, Apple is the kingmaker," he said to scattered applause.

"Even in commerce, it's the techniques of publishing that will carry the day. Because of the new capabilities, Internet publishing may be as profoundly transforming as movable type."

The next release of the Macintosh operating system, due this summer, will incorporate Personal WebSharing, Amelio noted, emphasizing the role of Java in both the computer maker's updates to the Mac OS and its new Rhapsody operating system due next year.

He reiterated his oft-articulated point that for Apple to return to profitability, it must narrow the scope of its ambitions. But he declined to give any hints on which businesses the beleaguered PC maker might exit.

But he cheered a recent Dataquest report that sales of Macintosh computers, counting those of Mac clone makers, grew nine percent from the third to fourth quarters last year.