Is it just my impression or has Steve Jobs become some sort of Britney Spears of the techie world?
Just the fact that this sort of gossipy news appears everywhere dones't bother me that much (that's media for you), but I wish people would stop their silly speculations about corporate implication and just let the man rest, like he's asking for. This isn't the National Enquirer...
Agreed. Frankly I think the man's contributed more than his fair share as is. He doesn't owe anybody anything. My guess to his sharing his medical status is more to protect the share value for the other people on his team, whose incomes may depend on it.
Just terrible news and so unfortunate that it has to play out this way. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to have to deal with a (seemingly) serious medical issue and have to justify every related move to the public.
He doesn't have to justify anything to anyone. It's just that Apple's runaway success has depended, depends, and will probably continue to depend on Steve Jobs being there. He knows it, and everyone with AAPL stock knows it too.
What's more terrible and unfortunate is the fact that not only is this the top story on CNN and Google News, but today's supreme court decision doesn't even make it onto either page. Not even below the fold.
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that evidence obtained from an unlawful arrest based on careless record keeping by the police may be used against a criminal defendant.
The question [...] was whether the requirement established in Apprendi applied to the decision whether a defendant convicted of multiple crimes must serve consecutive or concurrent sentences if the harsher punishment required a judge to find facts not determined by the jury.
Thats not terrible at all. I am rather glad that is not in the likes of breaking news. Somethings should be low key. His life is not everyones business. People who need to know about Mr. Jobs will find out either way.
This is not terrible news. Terrible news would be him staying on while he was sick and making it worse. The man is taking a really brief respite to rest after contracting an illness. That's what he's SUPPOSED to do.
Realty check: People get sick and they rest and then they get better. That's what's happening here.
If this were undiagnosed, or a really serious condition, or life threatening, or anything like that I'd have a different opinion. But as of right now all I see is a bunch of people trying to make a really big deal out of a relatively small thing in order to drive hits/sell newspapers.
Not that often and those who are ill enough to be at risk of death are usually hospitalized.
More to the point he has a disease that causes depression, fatigue, hair loss, urinary tract infections, and other embarassing conditions. So it makes perfect sense for him to stay at home to recover.
Other than he had Cancer 5 years ago what lines are you reading in between that makes you think he's sicker than he says?
The fact that he's taking a significant leave of absence makes me think maybe his doctors said "you have a one in X chance of beating this thing". Again, I really want to be wrong.
Are you kidding? You think things are so bad that it could be fatal yet he's just hangin' out at home? If something's that close to being fatal a person get's hospitalized.
Second this isn't a significant amount of time off. Perfectly healthy 53 year olds with millions of dollars in the bank take sabbaticals all the time.
No, it doesn’t. Hospitals have thousands of Doctors with all kinds of specialties along with millions of dollars of specialized equipment. People are hospitalized so they have quick access to all those Doctors depending on what happens to them. You can’t “bring a hospital to you”
Oh get real, of course they do. Do a Google search for “CEO takes a sabbatical” for Gods Sakes. One of my personal heroes in the tech industry was a guy named Brad Silverberg. He was #3 at Microsoft under only Gates and Ballmer and he took a year sabbatical to ride his bike of all things.
As far as "there’s always a reason" I have to ask: Have you looked at what the symptoms are for the disease he has? Fatigue, Hair Loss, Urinary Tract Infection, etc... I’d take a few months off if I were him. It doesn’t mean he’s any sicker than he says he is.
Taking another look at the now and then pictures, I'm inclined to believe the worst. It's a feeling based on a personal experience.
Extended weight loss isn't something that just happens. Granted with the surgery he's had, you do expect some effects as the GI system probably isn't as efficient as it once was. But given the care he's probably receiving, any minor issue should have been resolved. And for any workaholic to have to take time off means that it's probably something serious.
Even with the best care, you can only make a diagnosis based on what you know to test for. You can treat the symptoms but if the underlying cause isn't detected, the best you can do is prolong the inevitable.
Hope I'm wrong cause it's not anything I'd wish on anyone.
Stock, stock, stock. Thats what most people are talking about. I saddens me that this guy is obviously seriously ill and all that people can first think about is the stock price. Personally I wish him the very best of luck with whatever his medical condition is. Without his input into the world of computing (despite the negatives that he allegedly has) we would live in a different world to the one we now have. He was there from the very beginning of the personal computer revolution and I have a lot of respect for him. Above all though he's a human being and both he and his family must be going through a lot at the moment. My wishes are with them and hope that he recovers.
> I saddens me that this guy is obviously seriously ill and all that people can first think about is the stock price.
I don't want to appear callous, but people get sick all the time, and most people don't really notice or care. People notice in this case because Jobs is viewed as being critical to Apple's success, and has a track record of innovation, is a famous, wealthy guy, has affected the lives of millions, etc...
One of the good things about markets is that they can make transactions possible covering a very broad range of actors (see "I, Pencil"), some of whom might even detest each other, were they to meet in person. This, on the other hand, is one of those cases where markets come across as sort of cold and impersonal in a bad way, because the potential loss of millions of dollars has a way of focusing people's attention much more than the illness of some random person. They're two sides of the same coin.
If you really care about sick people and dying people, donate to the Methuselah Foundation (google it, or Aubrey de Grey). 150,000 people die of aging-related diseases every day, and almost nobody is working on curing that.
I'd say if you care about sick and dying people, you should donate money to Medecins Sans Frontiers* or another development charity. Simple, basic medical care is much cheaper than trying to prolong life (per person) so you will be helping more people, often children who have full lives ahead of them.
I agree. I first felt bad for him and bad for the world getting ever closer to losing his creativity and vision. It's sad.
I bought some Apple in 2008 when it dipped to about $88, but dropped out around $97 when I made my target profit on it. I do think the stock price is a proxy for "How will Apple do without Jobs", which many are curious about.
Hope he gets better soon, can't imagine how frustrated such a work-oriented person must feel about being out of commission.
On another note, might be a good idea to buy AAPL in a few days. Long-term, I think Apple will succeed, with or without Jobs at the helm, but it's sure as hell going to be down over the next few days.
How Steve was outed in the 80's is far different then how he would leave if he had to leave today. In the 80's, he was forcibly removed from his position and couldn't set anything up. Today? Apple has people like Schiller, Ive and Cook - all more then capable - to run things.
//edit: Fixed the dates. Thanks for pointing it out. And yes, I did typo twice ><
Schiller and Ive were both there during the dark days. Ive designed the Newton and the Performa.
The thing about Jobs is he can marshall talent in a way that really drives technical staff nuts at the time, but delights them with the results. Other boards give the technical people their heads, and then you end up with OpenDoc and Taligent. God knows who can replace that. Gassée couldn't.
Schiller wasn't, he was medium-level in marketing; but Ive was fairly senior. His team were churning out great designs -- there's a book called AppleDesign that showcases the work, the majority of which didn't make it into production because Apple simply didn't know what it had.
Steve was outed in the 80s. And yes, he's leaving a company in much better shape than it was back then.
Yet I'm not as optimistic as you are. None of the people you mentioned have comparable salesmanship abilities, or product vision. Sure, Ive can create great designs, their engineering teams are awesome, and Cook is operationally without peer.
But who comes up with the next iPhone, or decides to simplify the product line like Steve did when he came back?
Maybe I'm just looking at things differently, but (to me) you can't just compare Jobs Apple to Post-Jobs Apple. Look at who the rest of the industry has as well. Is there any company that can consistently come close to Apple for any of the things you mentioned?
I think Apple will manage with Schiller delivering keynotes instead of Jobs. The Schillernote at MWSF wasn't bad.
After several months of being sidelined at Apple, Jobs resigned on Friday, September 13, 1985. He told the board he was leaving to set up a new computer company, and that he would be taking several Apple employees from the SuperMicro division with him. He also told the board that his new company would not compete with Apple and might even consider licensing its designs back to them to market under the Macintosh brand.
Jobs was joined by former Apple employees Bud Tribble, George Crow, Rich Page, Susan Barnes, Susan Kare, and Dan'l Lewin
I think he's trying to say:
In '85 - Jobs couldn't really do any succession planning / future products / directions / etc... So he didn't set anything up for apple (unless you count the fact that long term they bought NeXT etc etc)
In '08 - Jobs will be sorely missed. The WWJD (What would Jobs Do?) question will be asked around apple for years to come
Further: Schiller did a pretty damn good job with the keynote. I watched his keynote and the Palm Pre one back-to-back, and Schiller's far better at presenting than any of the three Palm People - and the three of them weren't terrible, either.
Furthermore - the things that have made Apple so incredible aren't entirely from Jobs. Schiller handles marketing. Ive designs the things. There are tons of people working at Apple who make the magic happen. Steve embodies those things, yes, but his one greatest achievement was his creation of Apple itself. He made the company that's capable of succeeding in every field it enters, whether music or retail or telephones. That company will outlast him.
You know, I'm sure Jobs did good. But I think a lot of it was timing.
Apple's thing is all-in-one machines that are sexy. Always has been. Phones, MP3s players, maybe TVs & that whole market really moved towards Apple's pre-existing strategies. The 90s were about being able to afford to put a computer on each desk. They were never as good at that.
I disagree. They had style and vision in the 80s, and in the 90s they were just selling fungible beige boxes. If the person at the top doesn't care passionately about design, it isn't going to just well up from below. Employees who care about design and have a good eye for it will fail to get recognized, and see that happen to others, and they'll get demoralized and leave.
Certainly I hope Jobs gets well, but if he doesn't, I think the key for Apple will be picking a successor who cares about the same things he cares about.
Maybe. Actually, I don't disagree with you, Jobs is good at what he does. Very good.
But I think things like how their strategy interacted with the timing, stages of maturity in markets, technology & such, they played a role.
At the moment, Apple has a range of potential, growing or existing product classes that they are ideally positioned to take advantage of: netbooks, tablets, whatever else becomes the next computer.The only worry is spreading too thin.
What I am saying is that the world really did come back to them to an extent. It's not just Ninja leadership & it's hard to tell what is responsible for what exactly.
I don't think this will change anything big. A leader is important to a company, but a leader needs to be able to create the kind of culture that runs itself when they're away. I'm guessing that Jobs did a good job of instilling the culture that Apple has today in a way that will continue because of how the workers see themselves and the company. It's sad to see him undergoing such medical problems and I wish him a speedy recovery, but I think Apple will do fine without him because he's given them purpose and direction and a definition that lasts beyond him.
I'm sure we all wish you a speedy recovery and many years of health!
It is now about 30 minutes after this broke, there are 10 articles about it posted to Hacker News.
My take is that it will have a good couple of days of news cycle, but ultimately isn't that important to anyone but Steve Jobs, his family, and friends.[1]
The key of Jobs at Apple is that he demonstrated a "different way". The Scully years were about performing business: perform incremental improvement, manage costs, and earn a return on investment. The return of Jobs was the proposition that the company could [also|instead] succeed by fostering a reputation for quality of user experience and changing the product landscape to make new opportunities[2]. That proposition is now proven, there is a generation of leaders (and lead) in the company that know this and believe it.
They should get along just fine.
What they will lose is the "star power" of Jobs and all the easy copy that media companies could generate based on that. That will hurt, less media coverage is not good, particularly since Apple is going to suffer though a massive salvo of easy FUD articles.
[1] if he has a family, he may just have an antiseptic white ceramic dwelling staffed by obedient Eve clones for all I know.
[2] also, break some eggs if you are making an omelette.
I don't do any trading (and therefore don't own shares in Apple), but I wonder if people who have recently shorted AAPL are happy Steve Jobs is having medical problems? (Please don't downmod me because of the morbid behavior of others.)
It's not "clever" to hold the news till after the bell. It's done that way to avoid causing damage to high-frequency traders such as arbitrageurs and market-makers who, by providing liquidity, are good for a stock. Earnings are also usually announced at 4:10 for the same reason.
My prediction: I'll make a better % gain being short on PALM's inflated price post-CES then these AAPL shorters will. Apple is still an extremely strong company with lots of growth potential still left in the computer and phone markets. I'm sure there is money to made with these short term bets but I thought AAPL was bargain at the 85 close today, let alone what it drops to.
Yeah actually. I've got a few put contracts I'm going to dump. I've been betting against Jobs's health for a while. Plan B all along has been to go long after that happened. He's just not as important to that company as the market believes, because no man is that good.
All the news cares about is AAPL and not Apple or Jobs The Human. I'm not surprised -- and no one should -- because it all fundamentally comes down to money. The people in charge care about money and I'm sure Jobs knows this. He's already probably dead to the investors anyways. Only hackers or other ancillary types (in the grand scheme of things) care about innovation or the tech behind it. So save your tears for Woz's wake.
Simple question for those who think there's more to Jobs' sickness...
Imagine you're a millionaire hundreds of times over. You get a sickness that makes you tired, causes your hair to fall out and results in you not necessarily being able to control your bladder. Wouldn't you take a few months off?
Whether you like Murdoch's politics or not, the WSJ is one of the most respected newsgathering organizations in the world. They didn't blow their credibility on a fake memo.
This story didn't run on the (partisan) WSJ editorial page. It ran on the front page. It's obviously true.
"... Whether you like Murdoch's politics or not, the WSJ is one of the most respected newsgathering organizations in the world. They didn't blow their credibility on a fake memo. ..."
Calm down.
I posted the article very early and only the WSJ & CNBC reporting breaking news. No other confirmation. This isn't about politics, it's exercising skepticism until the news is confirmed by a number of sources.
It's one thing to express skepticism and another to advance the argument that one of the most credible news organizations in the world would fake a story because of the influence of Rupert Murdoch. Just clearing that up.
Early or not, when it's a major financial story on the front of the WSJ there isn't a need to exercise skepticism. Or at least skepticism because Murdoch owns them, that's starting to get paranoid.
I hate to say it, but Apple's a company that's highly dependent on its CEO. It doesn't seem like it's a company that's very dependent on its talent, so if the "dictator with taste" steps down, I believe Apple is not going to be in for a great time.
If you're going to get into options, you can sell a bullish straddle, but that assumes that the share price won't go back to its highs (a fair assumption).
Selling put verticals would work too as it limits your risk.
Actually selling puts is going to depend on what the implied volatility looks like on the open.
Of course I'll be on my blog and stocktwits talking about it at 935 tomorow.
It's certainly not good for Jobs that his health is declining, and may not be good for AAPL in the short term, but it gives Apple the opportunity to prove that Apple != Steve Jobs. If Apple can continue to kick ass for 6 months while he's gone, it indicates that Apple may do just fine once he's gone permanently.
Of course, 6 months may not be long enough to really tell. There's also the possibility that he really is dying and they're hiding it, or he simply plans to permanently retire, and they're just "easing" investors into the idea of an Apple without Steve Jobs. I hope neither is the case, especially the former.
Completely agree. The truly big test for Apple would really come 12-18 months after Steve's departure, when the product development pipeline matures. If they're able to keep the same "magic" with or without Steve, then it proves that he built Apple's success into their culture.
Historically that has not been the case though. In the short run it probably will not be much of an issue for Apple as there is not a huge shift in management.
I really hope he's alright. This is unfortunate, but I think the press is overreacting by automatically assuming the worst.
It's not shocking that a 53-year-old man would suffer a health crisis requiring a 5-month reprieve from work. He's a cancer survivor (and cancer treatment side effects often persist for years) with a hormonal imbalance. It sounds like he's doing the smart thing.
Part of why I think this is major news is that, unfortunately, a lot of people have health crises that merit or require half-year career breaks. I've seen a lot of people work through illnesses that really deserved time off, especially when I worked on a trading floor. It sucks that most people can't take breaks when they need to; in his case, it leads to a billion-dollar drop in his company's market cap.
Horrible news. Worse, the SEC is likely to come after him if it turns out (as we all probably think it will) that he's facing another round of cancer treatment. Now he's facing legal action as well, by publicly denying he has cancer.
So from 1 hacker to Steve, we wish you get better soon mate.