MacWorld Without Steve Jobs
Macolytes — and Apple stockholders — go wild worrying about the CEO's health.
There is no CEO more identified with his company than Steve Jobs, the iCEO of Apple. Since his return to Apple in the mid nineties, he has doubled Apple’s penetration of the entire PC market and dominated the high-end market. His creative vision is responsible for the creation of three iconic products: the Mac, iPod, and iPhone.
So it was not surprising that the recent announcement that Steve Jobs would not be speaking at MacWorld 2009 and that Apple itself would not participate in further MacWorlds sent Apple stock reeling. Mac aficionados feared that Steve Jobs pulled out because he is sick again. The abrupt timing of Steve’s withdrawal so close to the event itself raised suspicions even more. He did suffer from pancreatic cancer in 2004 and looked gaunt in his last public appearance in June.
The stated reason for the cancellation was that Apple no longer needs Macworld because its website and the Apple stores allow it to reach more of its consumers directly. This did not quiet the Macolytes. They monitor his health more closely than the paparazzi watch Angelina’s belly. I do not think that the health of the 72-year-old John McCain while running for the highest office in the land received as much scrutiny.
As with all things celebrity, the media handling of Jobs’ health has gone from the ridiculous to the sublime. Blogs are buzzing about an okay health report from a worker at Job’s regular frozen yogurt shop. New York Times reporter Joe Nocera forced Steve Jobs himself to admit that his virus in June was more serious than his PR staff originally said and then devoted an entire column to the effort. Well respected blogs and CNBC are quoting anonymous sources about the state of his health.
Of course, Steve Jobs could end the speculation by speaking forthrightly about his health, but that is not Job’s way. He delayed announcing that he was suffering from life threatening pancreatic cancer even though securities law requires a public company to report material adverse events on a timely basis. He has consistently obfuscated about his health because he believes that his health is nobody’s business but his own.
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Laura Goldman worked on Wall Street for 25 years for such firms as Merrill Lynch and Paine Webber. She now owns her own money management firm, LSG capital, in Tel Aviv, Israel.
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7 Comments
1. DougS:Actually, I suspect that Schiller or Tim Cook are better candidates than Jon Ive to replace Jobs, if/when the time comes. Ive has proven himself an excellent designer, but that’s not the same as actually running the company.
Jan 5, 2009 - 1:03 am 2. DougS:As something of a Macolyte myself, I would like to add that the majority of worry about Jobs’ health that I’ve seen in print, blogs or blog comments is either authoritative-sounding pronouncements by people who seem totally ignorant about what is publicly known of Job’s medical history or about pancreatic cancer itself; hysterical speculation; or me-too comments riding the coattails of such hysterical speculation.
I learned more than ever wanted to know about pancreatic cancer when my father was diagnosed with it. He subsequently died of it, but he had the common form of the disease. Jobs was diagnosed with the rarer form — the kind that is actually treatable with a reasonable expectation of success — and there seems to be relatively little reason to doubt his long-term survival.
That being said, I agree that it makes sense for Apple to have a transition plan in place. Even assuming that Jobs’ health is not a serious issue, it is true that he probably needs a bit more routine maintenance than most people. And with the added burden of running Pixar, it seems only logical that he should ease up on his involvement in Apple as he gets older. Deputing Phil Schiller to handle the MacWorld circus is a logical step in that regard.
Jan 5, 2009 - 1:18 am 3. rory:wow same day you publish this…..
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/01/05sjletter.html
January 5, 2009
Letter from Apple CEO Steve Jobs
Dear Apple Community,
For the first time in a decade, I’m getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.
Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.
I’ve decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.
As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.
Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.
The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.
I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple’s CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.
So now I’ve said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.
Steve
Jan 5, 2009 - 7:24 am 4. RW:Wow, that’s one helleva story and one great report on the Apple press release from Steve on the same day.
Steve really does deserve a ton of credit. Apple was fading and he came in and first thing he did was streamline the product line and get things back on track. Everyone is aware of the big wins that have followed with products such as the iPhone and iTunes has for better or worse changed the industry. (Some of us want more than DRM, we want high bit, shoot even something akin to Super Audio CD quality.)
But I will always remember Steve as someone who not only saved Apple hardware but led the company in making the right choices in its OS and beyond. Really an amazing story.
Jan 5, 2009 - 8:49 am 5. Gozer the Carpathian:Macolytes? Hehe, I kind of like that title. We do try to spread the word of Apple after all. Though at the same time there are plenty of us who are “holier than thou” over it all. :p
Anyway, I hope Steve does well because he’s worked his butt off and dumped much of his life into this company. I expect there’d be tons of similar news if Bill Gates came down with a major illness as well, though I doubt it’d have as much of a direct impact on Microsoft’s stock as Steve’s health has on Apple’s.
Jan 5, 2009 - 4:43 pm 6. vivo:I feel sorry for Steve Jobs and his sickness, just as I would feel for any other human being. But business-like, a succession plan can be implemented. It’ll be difficult to replace Jobs, but I hope there is someone out there who can carry on the Apple tradition of innovation.
Jan 6, 2009 - 4:53 am 7. Sports Blog 体育:Microsoft is doing fine without Bill Gates. However, I think Mac will not survive without Steve Jobs.
Jan 12, 2009 - 12:04 am