Steve can no longer run the company? Oh, so you know exactly what he has, then?

Oh, you don't?

Okaaaay...

I'm not in "denial". You're making stuff up. Huge swathes of medical problems are minor, fixable and non-life threatening, even ones that require six months of downtime. I've had two myself - not counting broken bones which are a little pedestrian as examples.

You say a CEO has no private information, when did they become less human , I haven't seen many CEO's that have been so dogged about their health.

I agree with Joe -- the status of Jobs' health *is* important and it's not to suggest he's less than human. This man is making vital decisions about the company (and claims is will continue doing so) and the shareholders and large-scale customers have a right to know whether the top decision maker is in a state of mind where he is capable of making sound decisions.

Also, Joe's comments about Jobs' health are not mere speculation. First, in the letter itself, Jobs states his health is worse than he let on. Second, this has been going on for months. It's been obvious to those of us in the news industry that Apple has been working to cover up Jobs' health problems. He shows up at talks looking emaciated. He cancels out of talks. He has a history of cancer. And then, in the most recent letter, he said his problems are worse than he thought, but he didn't say what those problems are. This is not just speculation. He has some pretty serious health problems and they are trying to hide them.

We don't know if the problems are serious but I don't deny it seems likely. Nonetheless, that's a very, /very/ long way from being the end of Jobs at Apple. I know people who have gone through much worse than a hormonal imbalance and come back to work.

Jobs, for a start.

Joe - You're nuts. Have you ever been sick? Nine days is an eternity in medical terms. Medicine is as much art as science. Many years ago my mother had a small-ish seizure. In the course of 4 days the diagnosis went from epilepsy to small stroke to brain cancer.

As for his privacy... you're a moron. A CEO is still a human being and despite your beliefs Apple is a corporation led by an executive staff not a one man show. Get a clue!

OK Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded apple computer when the only other choice was to piece together a CPM kit for yourself. So CPM was the first PC but Apple was the first PC that most of the world actually used. The 2 Stevens along with Microsoft co-opted the Zerox vision of object computing and came out with the Mac. After that they ran into kinda of a dry spell. Steve W. left to pursue other things. Steve Jobs hired a sugar water salesman to run Apple computer. The Sugar water salesman pushed Steve Jobs out the door and Steve cashed in his stock and founded NEXT and Pixar. Apple wanted Jobs back so they bought NEXT when they had trouble integrating BEOS into some klugey OSX. So OSX was based on NEXT instead. Jobbs became the largest Apple share holder again and gone was the Sugar water salesman from Pepsi. Jobs or someone at Apple decided to mess around with MP3 players, These things had been kicking around for a couple of years but Steve and his crew made them cool. OSX was cool Steve remade Apple computer into a cool company again.
Now Steve is getting older and he has been loosing weight unexplainablly , he did have cancer but says he's been cured. I don't know but if the doctors cut and re-orient over half your gut it may lead to loosing weight, call me stupid like that but that's how I think. Steve is telling the world that he has "A Hormone Imbalance" you cannot test for a hormone imbalance, scientists do not even know what a balanced hormones looks like in the first place. ( have you ever heard a hor-mone?) What should apple do? What should Steve do?
1. Apple should not hire another non technical Sugar water salesman. They should find a great tech visionary like Steve to replace Steve. 2. Steve should take the rest of his life, mixed guts and all and just enjoy it. How much money can one guy spend in a life time. He owns more Apple Stock than any one in the world, he owns more Disney Stock than anyone in the world. If I were in his shoes I would probably travel the earth on one of my Harley Davidson's and spend my time doing the one activity that I enjoy, riding motorcycles. I'm not saying Steven should get a Harley but he should learn to kick back and fool around with things that have nothing to do with making money and just learn to recreate.

Are we truly that surprised at today's announcement? Did not Mr.Jobs indicate in his public letter, earlier this month that it would take a number of months to mend,repair and return? Did not some of you perceive that this public letter might have been the"lead in"to further announcement?
Let the man have his medical leave and time to heal.
Let the press stop the hysterical headline banners! Without accurate deails the news given us can lead our thoughts in the wrong direction.
There are different types of tumors which can occur in the pancreas. There is the pancreatic cancer the type of lesion which is very quickly fatal. There are other types of lesions which can occur as part of larger endocrinological syndromes. These syndromes can cause various problems which need attention to end their symptoms. Those syndromes may or may not effect longevity but over a goodly number of years.Absent any new lesions there might be complications from previous surgery.. which causes mischief and must be resolved.
So, we do not know. Those of us Mac fans for whom Steve Jobs has become an icon become anxious when we read he is undergoing any adversity. But since we don't know the medical facts we dare not postulate or predict and dare not hang crepe.
I join the other commentators here in sending my deepest wishes for quick recovery to Mr. Jobs and his immediate family. Lets look forward to spring when a more rested, restored CEO takes up the reins fully again. Meanwhile we know he is advising , listening and very much there although in reduced capacity.

"I do feel for Steve's situation"

i doubt it

have some humanity

Like Apple but not a fanboy. Agree with Zack (doubt it).
Without knowing the details of what transpired medically and when (and you don't either Joe), I think Apple/Jobs has done just fine handling this.

Joe,

I think you are a way off base here. Until disclosing the health of CEOs becomes a requirement of the SEC or mandated by a statute like SOX, Steve Jobs' health is and should be a private matter. By definition and by common sense, Apple isn't obligated ethically or morally to disclose anything at all.

Moreover, conflating Apple's success with the persona of His Steveness is just plain lazy. Any stockholder who is "livid" about the news of Jobs' health is simply not doing their homework on the fundamentals of Apple's business.

Want to know the secret of Apple's profitability, and therefore of its high stock prices? Hint: it has nothing to do with the health of the CEO. It's all about Apple's ability to forecast demand and build an efficient supply chain to fill that demand. For example, if you check the Forbes 'Ratios and Returns' page for Apple, you'll see that Apple does 48.8 inventory turns a year. That is, their warehouses turn over their entire inventories ON AVERAGE 48 times a year, or just over once a week. Considering their average selling price is hundreds of dollars per item, that is simply astounding. Dell -- always thought to be the reigning supply-chain champion -- is actually not even as good: they turn over "only" 46.4x per year. (That's still pretty astounding too.) By the way, for purposes of comparison: Newell Rubbermaid does 4.1 inventory turns per year; Proctor and Gamble does 4.7. Intel (!) does just 3.7.

Now, there's a lot more to the health of Apple's business than supply chain management. Want more examples? How about the number of engineers that work on the core Mac operating system relative to, say, the number engineers that work on Windows? How about R&D spending as % of revenues? Apple's spends 3.4% of revenues on R&D; Microsoft spends 13%.

I could go on, and on, and on. But the fact of the matter is that Steve Jobs is not the guy who singlehandedly achieves these goals. He sets the tone, certainly, but his management team is the group that turns the tone into action. And most reports I've read agree that his senior management team -- Tim Cook, Ron Johnson, Bertrand Serlet, Scott Forstall, Phil Schiller etc is as deep as it is talented.

Fanboys and irrational investors make stock bets based on personalities. Disciplined investors actually do their homework. Anybody who's dug into Apple's business knows their strategy and ability to execute is exceptional, and will continue to be so for a few years more at least, with or without Jobs at the helm.

Sadly, this whole Steve-Jobs-Has-Deceived-The-Shareholders-Because-He's-Sooooper-Sick story clearly won't go away, because it's such a fun football to kick around. That doesn't make it any less unseemly, or less distracting from a more honest analysis of Apple's strategy.

There are so many people who have a little or no original skill or merit who make a living by piggybacking on others. I read what you write and conclude that you are a prime example of this talentless breed who pontificate even though you have no stature. The 'net has given you a Tannoy system to add your noise to that of all the other chatterati and you are so thrilled by this that you convince yourself that what you write has merit. It does no. You are your own sycophant which is pretty nauseating. You try to get the whole world in a lather about Jobs' and Apple's irresponsibility about non-disclosure of personal matters, bleating that these should not be held private. You are like so many other fools who make noise about non-issues while the bandits at the White House, the Fed, the Treasury; the Madoffs and the Huld etc etc destroy so many lives and shatter so many innocent dreams.
You are what a fool would call a fool.
Anyone with a modicum of business sense and ordinary human decency would simply remind everyone that without Jobs Apple would still be a floundering small cap stock with no offerings that could change the world, change so many industries, democratise so many markets and put the ordinary guy in charge as he has done with the way people buy music. He has brought the future to us today and the gadgets on Star Trek seem faintly quaint as a result. He did that, almost single-handed. He did not mislead anyone about where he was taking the company. He has not disappointed anyone as he gradually unfolded his scheme to bring Apple out of the gutter of near failure and into the ascendancy as THE company that everyone would like to own a piece of, everyone would like to be associated with, everyone cites as THE example of how business should be done etc. etc. His health and other private matters are his business, not yours. Who are you but yet another wannabe journalistic prostitute with a megaphone? Being able to express an opinion in public does not mean that you have anything to say that's worth listening to. Don't you know that? It is fundamental. So if you have nothing of value to say, STF up.

Life, children, family- not money, work or stockholders is what matters - in the long run. Right? How can we loose track of humanity? Or purpose on this earth. Wish his family the best- not focusing on your wants - for yourself.

>> It's time for Apple's board to cut the BS and do the right thing.

Same for eWeek, time to cut the BS that this loser Joe Wilcox continues to spew out.

Sorry, but Joe is absolutely, 100% correct.

When Jobs does step down from being CEO, he'll be a private citizen. Until then, even if he's taking a leave of absence, he's not. As a senior executive of a publicly-traded company, his health is an issue which is of significant material interest to the owners of the company - that is, it's shareholders.

This means that, while Apple doesn't have to release the details of his illness, it has a duty not to be misleading in its statements. The "common bug" stuff wasn't PR speak: it was a lie. The fact that it was a transparent lie, made with the (good) intention of protecting Steve's privacy, doesn't make it any less of one.

It was also a lie that may have had a material effect on the company's share price, and that isn't acceptable.

The *only* correct way to deal with this kind of issue at a corporation is to be as transparent as possible while sparing everyone the details. Put the big questions to rest, while being sensitive. Saying something along the lines of "Steve has a secondary illness related to his pancreatic cancer which, while treatable, is likely to mean he needs six months of treatment and rest. His cancer has not recurred." is open, honest, and puts to bed 90% of the speculation. Saying "he has a common bug" or "a hormone imbalance" just invites more speculation and misleads investors.

Serious illness is not something you can put a PR spin on, and while I can understand Jobs' (and Apple's) desire to do that, one of the more experienced board members ought to be telling him he can't do it. That's supposed to be what an independent board is there for.

@Andrew Jaquith:

There is no "secret...of its high stock prices." The stock price is down more than 50% from its 52-week high -- a bigger drop than Microsoft or, indeed, the entire S&P 500 -- despite its strong profitability and other financial measures, as well as customer loyalty. Some of it may be due to the general bear market, but the balance of the decline can't be due entirely to "irrational investors". This is how the market interprets uncertainty about the future.

Steve Jobs

Now is the time to allow Steve time out to make his health problems his number one priority. Yes his position as CEO and what he has done over the years at Apple does make his illness somewhat different to most other CEO's who are jist bean counters but Apple does have excellent people and to all of you who have forgotten or unawaire, perhaps the second most important person at Apple and who has had a major impact on recent Apple sucess (iMac - Powerbook - G3 - G4 - iPod - iPhone) is still there - Johnathan Ive, dare I suggest when the time does come for Steve to step down (not for many years yet I hope) he is the one to continue the vision Steve has always been associated with.
Get well soon Steve your health is more important.

Absolutely wish the best to Jobs and his family.

However, a public company cannot lie to its shareholders. It could be an innocent mistake, but the probability of this between low to zero. Some say the hormone disequilibrium was a prelude to deeper problems with his pancreas, which is scheduled to be removed fairly soon. This could at least partially reinforce the idea they were being honest. Personally, I own AAPL stock and for a stock with 3x$ in cash per share it's not trading with much confidence.

Someone needs to step up and take the reins, Jobs can always come back and form a partnership later. I would hesitate from the commercial standpoint of investing heavily into a firm through purchasing its products if they are being this shady regarding their CEO.

For one of the posters here to feel qualified to comment having moderated over a failed Mac publication is typical of the kind of loser this article will attract. What nonsense - what great credentials to validate the right to judge this matter. Better to look for another crap magazine to edit than to opine here.
Mr Jaquith has it right in my view. Look at the record. Look at the management team. Look at Warren Buffett's investment criteria and tick the boxes for Apple to see how well it is run, even if Buffett avoids tech investments.
As for Jonathan Ive he is doubtless a good designer but there are thousands of good designers. Really. Nothing extraordinary in that. He is no CEO however. Ha has great ideas but I doubt he has a disruptive vision.... since that is rare. People with a 'designer' mentality tend to have a client-centric mindset. Ive is the 'designer' and Jobs and Apple are his clients in his mind it seems. He can work with Apple very well. I doubt he would ever want to lead it.
No one understands the consumer and anticipates their wants with such uncanny skill as Jobs does.
Ive is no Steve Jobs' Tim Cook. and Tim Cook is no Ive or Jobs'. They both have great merit nonetheless.
The best thing right now is that Apple has Tim Cook, because above all Apple is a mature business and that needs managing. Cook is a fine manager. Cook is the practical foil to Jobs' heat-seeking creativity. Apple would not be a large cap stock today without Cook's management of the fundamentals.
Jobs has always done more than Apple might have expected from him as CEO. He is far better than many another CEO of any repute that I know of. That is why he gets so much admiration, news coverage, so much manic-obsessive speculation. He is almost unique in the corporate leadership landscape. He is admired both by creatives and business managers and those are not natural bedfellows.
Apple's shares dipped and then recovered. What is there to bleat about in that? If Jobs should succumb to this illness, he has created a fine robust company as his legacy - one that is almost bomb-proof and fad-proof. Its emulators have at least a decade of R&D ahead of them merely to catch up with Apple in 2009. Where might Apple's product line-ups be in 2019?
Apple will be fine now, with or without Jobs.
I am no fan of Jobs since I know his early history with Apple, but having nearly ruined the company, he made good on his blunders like no one else I know. He knows when to step aside if he needs someone to cover.
Physical frailty is one thing. The average Brit takes a week off if they merely get the sniffles, never mind an actual cold. I think we can cut Jobs some slack to recover from this rather more challenging condition. He is physically ill perhaps, but his mind seems to be as sharp (and his wit as acerbic) as ever and that is all that Apple has ever needed from him. I believe he could lead Apple just as well from a hospital bed as from his ofice. So what is there to bleat about, lambkins?
Jobs knows that he can (and should) lead this company until he physically cannot or until he has no further intellectual contribution to make to its leadership. Nothing wrong with that. Let those who disagree continue to bleat and wring their hands. They don't know, so they opine. They are good at that.
As long as Jobs is intellectually alive, the shares will recover, even if they dip at every rumour incident. If you want to worry about a long-lasting dip, I suspect you will wait for a long time. When Jobs eventually passes away in his late 70s or 80s or whenever, the shares may take a serious dip and they may take a while to recover. But after that, with the Jobs/Ive/Cook/Serlet etc DNA it will fly, unencumbered by the rumour mill.
And that is what all this is really about. His physical frailty does not disqualify him from being CEO as long as he has his wits about him. I would rather have a physically sick Jobs directing Apple than almost any wholly healthy alternate....right now at least. In the meantime, what better way is there to prepare for his eventual departure?
No individual manager or board member shines with the same complete spectrum of skills that Jobs has, including his well-documented negative attributes. But he has assembled a team that can, collectively, far exceed his talents imo. Right now Tim Cook has his second lengthy bite at managing Apple. What might that tell us about Jobs' thinking? It speaks volumes to me.
If you want to criticise Jobs' right to privacy, then find other champions to praise like Huld and Madoff and Paulson, whydontcha? You will be a lot happier it seems. I mean, they did not fall ill,good boys that they are, eh? And if they brought terminal sickness into everything they touched and infected millions in the process, where's the harm in that, my dears? Plenty more to bleat about there. Oooh, how much more of direct relevance to good stewardship and shareholder loyalty went undisclosed in those careless selfish hands I wonder...eh? Go bleat. Go punish even. No, I know. You only like to criticise people of merit. Phew but that smells. What's that? You don't smell anything? Well now .....

This article and its author remain rubbish, misdirected and wholly out of order.

As an Apple employee, I'm insulted by the blathering from sheep like Joe. They rant over and over and over about how everything good from Apple comes from the mind and efforts of SJ, as if the work, dedication, and contribution of the thousands of Apple employees doesn't account for anything. Hey Joe, FU and the rest of your pathetic ilk. Do us a favor and just assume that Sj is no longer involved with the company, and deal with it. "Oh, Apple will never do anything ever again. Oh woe is me, woe is me." Get a grip. Apple is more than SJ. Apple is thousands of hard-working individuals. We are tired of not being considered by "pinhead pundits" like you in the equation of Apple's success. Monday, like every other Monday, I and the other Apple employees will once again strive to deliver innovative solutions that make a difference in people's lives, as we have every day for decades. We will continue to do our best and deliver great products, regardless of when or if Steve returns. Show some respect for this fact and just shut up.

The terms of the stock of another big thing in life is very stupid. You are only a vulture waiting for the death of others.

Now I remember why I erased Joe Wilcox from my list of favorites several months ago.