‘I need to gain about 30 pounds,but I feel good’

At the event,Apple introduced new iTunes software and a new line of iPod Nano music players with video cameras. But the product announcements were eclipsed by the return of Jobs five months after his liver transplant in Tennessee. Jobs suffered from complications from pancreatic cancer.

“I’m back at Apple and I’m loving every day of it,” he said on stage,after a standing ovation from the crowd,which included Apple employees and journalists gathered for the news conference.

The applause “was an endearing statement for someone who is clearly still recovering”,said Gerry Purdy,a wireless analyst at Frost & Sullivan who has covered the mobile computing industry for 20 years.

“I’m very happy to be here,and thank you all,” he said. “As some of you know,five months ago I had a liver transplant. I now have the liver of a mid-20s person who died in a car crash and was generous enough to donate their organs. I wouldn’t be here without such generosity,so I hope all of us can be as generous and elect to be organ donors.”

But after that gentle opening,Apple’s chief executive used the news conference to take jabs at competing products from Microsoft,Sony,Nintendo,Dell and Cisco Systems.

Jobs’s public return will reassure many Apple fans and shareholders,who view the charismatic co-founder of the company as crucial to Apple’s success.

Apple announced a new version of its iTunes software that will allow users to better organise their applications for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. The company also introduced a line of iPod Nanos that have a video camera,microphone,speaker,FM radio tuner and pedometer and start at $149. Apple also pitched a cheaper,$199 version of the iPod Touch with more memory.