Bermuda, has stirred speculation that he plans to set up a business here.

Mr. Sculley, who recently left Apple, talked about business opportunities on the Island in a recent speech to the Young Presidents Organisation at the Southampton Princess.

But a spokesman for Mr. Sculley in New York said he had no present plans to start a business on the Island.

Mr. Sculley's mother is Bermudian. He is a member of the Coral Beach Club and counts Bank of Bermuda executive Mr. Henry Smith and Mr. Colin Curtis of the Bermuda Perfumery among his first cousins. One brother, Mr. David Sculley, is a senior vice-president of Heinz-USA, the other, Mr. Arthur Sculley, is a top executive at Morgan Guarantee.

Mr. Sculley is not listed on the current Register of Bermudians, said a Home Affairs spokesman.

One local executive who heard Mr. Sculley speak said he talked about the telecommunications superhighway and "alluded to the possibility that Bermuda could play a part in that''.

"Perhaps the facilities (at the US Naval Air Station) being vacant, some of the infrastructure there could be converted to a telecommunications distribution centre, perhaps for financial products or markets.'' Another Bermuda executive who was present said Mr. Sculley knew the Island well and was "very interested in what's happening on the telecommunications front all over the world''.

Mr. Sculley also felt "Bermuda is a wonderful place in terms of the fact that there is a minimum of regulation here, and there is no income tax'', the businessman said. "There is also a very strong international business base and a good support structure. When you put all that together, he definitely feels this is a venue that has a lot to offer.'' All of those factors existed with or without the Base closure, but that could present an opportunity.

Still, he did not know of Mr. Sculley having any definite plans to locate on the Island.

Mr. Sculley, 55, was born in New York City, the son of Mr. John Sculley and Mrs. Margaret Blackburn (Smith) Sculley. After leaving a top executive post at PepsiCo, he served as president and chief executive officer of Apple from 1983 to 1993.

A graduate of Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Sculley invented a colour television tube at age 14. Fortune Magazine said his patent application lost out by a few weeks to a competing application that later evolved into the Sony Trinitron.

In June 1993, Mr Sculley resigned as Apple's chief executive officer. He left the company completely in October.

He then briefly joined Spectrum Technologies, a small wireless technology company, but left when the company was accused of financial irregularities which were alleged to have taken place before he arrived.

Today, Mr. Sculley has an office in New York and industry analysts expect him to start a new project.

He could not be reached for an interview, but a spokesman said Bermudians should not read too much into his remarks. "He said there are plenty of business opportunities in Bermuda,'' but he had no plans in Bermuda "right now,'' she said.

Mr. Sculley planned to work as a consultant and get involved with a number of projects, she said. "He doesn't want to be the head of a single company anymore.'' FORWARD LOOKING -- Mr. John Sculley.