For the thousands of aficionados attending today's start of the week-long Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, a hotly-awaited preview of the company's new Mac OS X Leopard operating system will be just one of the highlights.

The fervour surrounding the tech jamboree, an annual showcase of Apple's forthcoming products staged in San Francisco, was summed up by Gizmodo, a technology website that will follow the event in minute-by-minute detail.

"This is the day that all the rumours get put down, all the fanboys wet their undies, and we all get hypnotized into buying yet more Apple pie," it said.

On America's east coast, Wall Street will also be transfixed on WWDC - but for more hard-headed reasons.

On the trading floors of New York, there are growing calls for the company to clarify the stock-option irregularities it admitted last week and which sent the group's shares sharply lower.

For much of Wall Street, the most important question is whether chief executive Steve Jobs was responsible for any mishandling of options. JP Morgan summed up the consensus this morning when it said it thought this was highly unlikely.

Analysts Bill Shope and Elizabeth Borbolla said: "At Apple, all options grants are determined and approved by a compensation committee made up of independent members of the board of directors, and Steve Jobs has never had any official role in this process."

UBS Global Equity Research said in a note: "Apple has no chairman of the board and Mr Jobs has never overseen the compensation committee, which could limit his exposure to this options issue."

It concluded: "Jobs' standing at Apple and with shareholders is on solid ground."

However, along with several other analysts, the JP Morgan technology team also cited "the uncertainty from the company's options investigation" as a potential drag on Apple's stock.

Richard Stice, an equity analyst at Standard & Poor's pre-empted that sentiment last week. He maintained his "strong buy" rating on the shares, but said there could be "management implications" if Apple was forced to widen its probe further.

The comments came after Apple warned on Thursday that it will probably be forced to cut profits for the past four years after uncovering accounting irregularities linked to stock options.

In a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple said all earnings issued since September 29 2002 - a period in which it reported profits of $3 billion - should not be relied upon. It will also miss the SEC's next quarterly reporting deadline.

The news sent Apple shares as much as 6.6 per cent lower in the hours after the release, amid wider concerns over the use of options in American technology sector.

Stock options are priced on the day they are awarded and can usually be cashed between three and five years later. The share price is expected to rise above the option price in the intervening period to deliver profits.

Federal authorities are currently investigating allegations of stock option "backdating" at scores of American technology companies - a practise designed to maximise potential returns and retain the sector's brightest stars.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that an analysis of Apple's regulatory filings raised further questions after it alleged options were granted just before sharp increases in stock between 1997 and 2001.

In light of that report, and with analysts discounting the possibility of fresh news on the iPod's next incarnation being released at WWDC, Mr Jobs will be under even greater pressure to clear up the options issue.

But like the amateur techies, Wall Street analysts are also keen to hear if Apple has any new products up its sleeve, or plans to roll out feature films on iTunes, its online music store - one of the more popular rumours on the web this week.

New computers and servers using Intel chips are also expected to be announced.

And though JP Morgan's tech team feels rumours of a long-awaited iPod mobile phone are premature, it suggested such a gadget is "in the pipeline".

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