Apple had wanted to call itself Apple Inc. forever.
The use of "Computer" in the Apple Computer corp. name has
always been just a compromise to keep the Beatles at bay.
Apple was finally able to drop the "Computer" part on Jan 09 07
only because it has finally reached a deal with the Beatles.
Thanks to the agreement with the Beatles two things happened:
(1) Steve Jobs got to demo the Beatles songs during his Keynote;
(2) Apple was able to drop "Computer" without a Beatles lawsuit.
Reading anything else is most the wrong reading of this event.
Coming soon to an iTunes near you: The Beatles music catalog.
The Biggest Deal About Macworld was the Name Change