Steve Jobs steps up involvement to new level

While Mac industry insiders expect that Steve Jobs will soon step into a top-level position at Apple, sources said the co-founder is now making his opinions known within the company.

According to reports, Jobs will be named chairman of the Apple board of directors next week at the Macworld Expo in Boston. He recently replaced Avadis Tevanian, senior vice president for software engineering, as the keynote speaker for the show. Apple declined to comment.

Sources said Jobs has already taken a high profile at Apple after the departure of former CEO Gilbert Amelio earlier this month. Although not an officer of the company, Jobs reportedly signed off on a stock-option plan for Apple employees. In addition, he recently met with several project leaders to review product plans.

"The executives are under Jobs' microscope right now," said one source. Jobs was making product decisions, another source said.