Return of the Apple PDA.

Apple is to launch a handheld using the Palm operating system this autumn - just two years after killing off its Newton handheld, which anticipated the PalmPilot by years.

Ending the Newton project was one of the first acts of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, when he rejoined the company and was given the task of reviving its fortunes. It had been the pet project of former Apple chief John Scully - the first person to use the term personal digital assistant (PDA).

The first Newton shipped in 1993 a good two years before the Pilot - and, many believe, before the technology was ready. Certainly the brand never recovered from the fact that the handwriting recognition on the much-hyped early models was not up to the task.

The PDA market took off with the success of the PalmPilot. Microsoft may be able to claw back some market share with its new Pocket PC specification and streamlined version of CE, but the PalmPilot is king of the PDA hill.

The Pilot was originally targeted at PC users, but last summer a native Mac version was released giving Apple users a clean connection of their own. Pilots are now selling well among Mac users.

Jobs hinted in his keynote speech at MacWorld in January that Apple might launch a PDA. Now sources close to Apple say the company is licensing the Palm OS and is working with 3Com-owned Palm to create business and consumer versions of a Pilot-like device.

But a question remains over Jobs' commitment to PDAs. Rumour has it that Jobs and his team agreed to an Apple Palm reluctantly, after the Palm Computing booth at the two successive MacWorld shows was mobbed by users wanting to buy Mac-to-Pilot software.