Mr Steve Jobs, who has led a stunning turnaround at Apple Computer, has made his stewardship of the computer maker a more permanent affair.

After two and a half years as "interim" chief executive of Apple, Mr Jobs said he would drop the qualifier from his title.

"I'm going to be dropping the `interim' title," Mr Jobs told the Macworld expo in San Francisco amid a standing ovation from the crowd of Apple devotees at the city's cavernous Moscone Centre.