[Steve Jobs] and [John Sculley] first communed as "soul mates." But they soon were at odds over strategy. In 1985, Sculley and the Apple board ousted Jobs in what Sculley later called "the darkest hour of my professional life." Sculley began managing the company along more conventional lines. He laid off 1,200 people, closed three factories and moved the focus of his marketing to the high-end corporate segment.

Yesterday, Sculley denied that his decision to leave the chief executive's job was related to recent financial blips at Apple. Last week, in the midst of a computer price war, the company announced that profits would fall; that led to a 10 percent drop in its stock price in a single day. Some analysts believe Apple will have to cut its work force again to regain its buoyancy.

Asked yesterday what he sees as his accomplishments in a decade at Apple, Sculley noted the company's growth. "Today, Apple is tied with IBM for the number one position in the world and we make a lot more money than any other personal computer company in the world," he said. He noted that it had a strategy for the '90s.