Steve Jobs Takes Leave of Absence From Apple 429
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Network World: "A number of sites are reporting that Apple's CEO Steve Jobs is taking a leave of absence till June at least. Speculation over Jobs' possibly failing health has run rampant in the past few weeks. Prior to the recent MacWorld show, Jobs said he had a hormone deficiency that had caused him to dramatically lose weight. In a memo today Jobs told workers his health issues are more complex than he thought." Reader Bastian227 adds a link to this letter from Steve Jobs on Apple's website, which also says that Tim Cook will be responsible for daily operations, though Jobs will remain involved with major strategic decisions.
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I think he's planning on doing that keynote.
On what basis?
On a different note, this is a sad day for those owning AAPL shares - expect them to plunge even further than they have over the past year.
Re:June... (Score:5, Insightful)
On a different note, this is a sad day for those owning AAPL shares - expect them to plunge even further than they have over the past year.
Well, if you didn't see this coming a mile off, you probably shouldn't be in the market at all.
Re:June... (Score:5, Funny)
The iDroids dream of them.
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To those who marked me troll.
It is a reference to the book "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep"!
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Which is better known by the Movie title, an post-movie release book re-release title of: Blade Runner.
Re:June... (Score:5, Funny)
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No shit, but to what degree was this priced in already?
I think the market had already priced in about 80% of this news. Unless there is other, unforeseen fallout from this announcement, we're pretty close to where the stock should be. For the last year it has been a question of "when", not "if". Actually, this may be the the jump-start the stock needs; big money has been reluctant to invest in Apple until the uncertainty of Job's condition is cleared up. He should have done this six months ago.
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As always, amatuers like you fail at stocks (Score:5, Insightful)
No.
If the company is sound, this will be a short term drop follwed by a recovery. If you own shares, and think AAPL is sound without Jobs, then selling makes no sense. Instead, you should be buying the discounted shares in anticipation of a recovery, which is what strong companies do.
On the other hand, if you think AAPL is not strong without Jobs, then WTF were you doing buying AAPL in the first place?
In short, you are making the same mistake all amateurs make.
And no, I'm not a pro, but this point has been emphasized enough, and proven accurate enough, that I take it as correct.
Re:As always, amatuers like you fail at stocks (Score:4, Insightful)
Also AAPL is good to own in a recession.
Imagine the total demand for computers shrink 10%.
If you're Dell, you car a lot.
If you're Apple, you can still double your sales, you simply grow in market share.
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Re:As always, amatuers like you fail at stocks (Score:5, Funny)
If you're Dell, you car a lot.
Do we have to bring car analogies into everything?
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...In difficult financial times the value isn't there for most people....
Apple isn't targeting their products at people in dire financial straits, but to people who still have money. They have never sold stuff to the bottom end of the market, especially commodity items such as computers. That is why they are doing better than the other PC makers. Also, more and more people are beginning to understand that the purchase price of a computer is only a relatively small part of the total cost over the life of one
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Not really. I've found the old PPCs lack the ability to run any modern media center software. The new de facto standard for OS X is Plex [plexapp.com] and it's intel only. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with mt old G4 Dual 1ghz MDD.
Re:As always, amatuers like you fail at stocks (Score:4, Insightful)
This is true, but intriguingly, Apple also sells iPhones and iPod Touches, which many people can use as substitute computers. A friend of mine got iPod Touch for his birthday and pecks out his documents with the Notes application and emails them around, instead of using a computer.
iPhones are cheaper than any computers, even netbooks, and are not significantly different in price from other smartphones.
Apple has a pretty big iPhone developer community now, and they are compensated pretty well through the App Store. What do those nice folks who made $100,000 do with their well-deserved gains? Buy 17" MacBook Pros, of course. Tax deductible and all that. And as lovely as a well-designed sports car, just a lot cheaper.
The one huge advantage Apple has is that people love their products, so they will scrimp and save and suffer to buy them. For this reason, I expect them to gain market share, especially in tough times. The enthusiasts still buy, while the pragmatists stop buying. Thus, the total market shrinks but Apple's market share is likely to increase.
D
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A sports car? Seriously? Look man, the MacBook won't get the "transform into a vehicle" feature for at least another 20 years, and then it would probably be a lame ass Vespa or something like that.
Then again, I'd rather not ride the XP version and crash...
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Can the iPod connect in SSH2 to a server on the other side of the world ?
Yes. You can SSH from the iPod touch. There are SSH clients for the iPhone for ~3$ in the app store. You can also SSH to the iPhone / iPod, but that's a separate issue.
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Nope. You're still wrong. Network unlocks are available from the networks themselves in most countries.
Again wrong. The jailbreak and unlock processes are practically single click now, and there's next to no risk of bricking. And if you do somehow manage to brick it
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Do you have a point? It's pretty easy to spin you argument around.
As far as being 'expensive', $199 -- hell, $99 -- with a contract too much for you? I didn't realize the N90 was a free phone... Of course it isn't, even though its from 2005, refurbished and used, it's selling north of $200... STILL [google.com]. The Nokia N90 MSRP was $799. [productwiki.com]
Re:As always, amatuers like you fail at stocks (Score:5, Interesting)
I am in the market and write trading systems, and could not have said it better myself.
The thing about Steve Jobs and these sorts of leaders is when to let go. Lou Gerstner brought back IBM from the dead. Then he let go. IBM is still alive and kicking.
Nokia's past CEO made Nokia what it was and then he let go. Nokia is still alive and kicking.
Microsoft is an example of how one half let's go and the other half does not. I am actually much more pessimistic with Microsoft than Apple.
In the past Apple lacked execution. They had great ideas, but poor execution. Now Apple has execution, and it is NOT STEVE JOBS that did the execution. Think about it, how well did Apple execute with Steve Jobs previously? Or how about Next? NOT AT ALL! What was different this time is that Steve Jobs built a team...
Ideas are a dime a dozen. The ability to execute on the idea is what makes the difference... And that Apple can do...
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If we think about the team here, Jony Ive can design the computers, Phil Schiller can market them and Tim Cook can make sure the financials come out all right.
I think we will all miss Steve but Apple itself will do just fine.
I wish Steve joy in relaxation - he has had one of the busiest lives I could ever think of - and a speedy recovery and return to the helm.
D
Re:As always, amatuers like you fail at stocks (Score:5, Funny)
On the other hand, if you think AAPL is not strong without Jobs,
Well, I am a whiney apple fanboy, so of course I believed Apple's statements saying Jobs was in good health & thought he'd be running the company for years to come....
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The problem with Apple, is that the stock price is sustained by hype. Hype for cool new products. Fortunately or unfortunately for Apple, the hype is mostly generated by Steve Jobs. If he goes, the price of the company is going
Re:June... (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't think so.
Don't count Apple out just because Jobs is gone. He isn't the ONLY person working at Apple and he certainly isn't the once and future designer.
Sure they might not do as well but they still have Ipods, Itunes, Imacs and a lot of Fanboys and Girls.
And say what you will Apple does make some good, if expensive hardware and software.
Jobs may be more than just a figurehead but he is hardly all the company has going for it.
Re:June... (Score:4, Insightful)
Ohh and I don't know it might also be a sad day for his family. Let's get some perspective here. He has serious health issues and people seem to care more about the stock prices.
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That's a big chunk of work to schedule yourself to return to. But he could probably do a recap and introduce Bertrand Serlet to do the Mac stuff, then Scott Forstall to do the iPhone stuff.
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Re:June... (Score:5, Informative)
That's usually when WWDC happens. I think he's planning on doing that keynote.
-jcr
I don't think so. WWDC was June 9-13 last year, and Jobs' announcement [apple.com] specifically says "until the end of June." There will be tons of cool stuff to show off at WWDC this year, and it doesn't make sense to bet on Jobs' health improving enough to be able to do the keynote, especially if he won't be involved with operations beforehand.
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Get well, Steve (Score:4, Insightful)
Love 'em or hate 'em, he's changed a lot in the tech sector. His presence will be missed.
Re:Get well, Steve (Score:5, Funny)
He's not dead yet!
Re:Get well, Steve (Score:4, Funny)
He's not dead yet!
He doesn't want to go on the cart.
Re:Get well, Steve (Score:4, Funny)
The Apple cart?
Re:Get well, Steve (Score:4, Funny)
That's why it's "Get well", not "RIP".
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I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.
Re:LOL, No... (Score:5, Insightful)
He still built up a ton of excitement around all of the Apple products. MP3 players were drab and virtually useless before the iPod - a few years later everyone had one.
Apple products have influenced design across the hardware and software landscape (for the better IMHO).
Without the iPhone, there just wouldn't be any exciting phones out right now. It changed the playing field and helped bring us the G1 and Palm Pre.
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Bullshit, before the iphone was a twinkle in Steve's eye we had Palm and WindowsMobile doing a lot of things you cant do today with an iphone. Tethering, copy and paste, downloading any app you like, *gasp* running software you wrote, choosing whatever wireless company you want to go with, outlook syncing, voip, etc.
Useless mp3 players? Perhaps useless as a fashion accessory, but I had an mp3 player before the ipod was even released. Worked fine, thanks for asking.
Re:LOL, No... (Score:4, Insightful)
"MP3 players were drab and virtually useless before the iPod - a few years later everyone had one."
I've never understood why people make comments like this. The iPod was a step backwards in terms of features and such, I'm not even convinced iTunes is any easier to use than the icon I could just drag and drop my MP3s into in Windows either. The iPod was actually quite a late arrival in the MP3 market, many forget that MP3s were already becoming somewhat mainstream (we already had support in some car sound systems for example). It's certainly fair to credit the iPod as the product that took the mainstream, but not necessarily the product that acted as a catalyst for mainstream- the fact you could store thousands of tracks in the space of half a portable CD player and not need to carry media around was already a good enough catalyst. People would've bought players regardless, but it was the style and prestige factor of the iPod that got it most of those sales, as well of course as it being in the right place at the right time- arriving just as the MP3 market was already taking off.
I don't disagree that Jobs and his marketing team were excellent at creating hype and shifting units, but I'm still not convinced it's because the products are necessarily ground breaking, or even that high quality (battery problems, easily scratched screens etc.?).
Apple under Steve has been good at what designer clothes companies are good at, building a brand that people want because they feel it gives them that extra bit of prestige. People will take Armani jeans over some bog standard jeans if they have the opportunity, the bog standard ones may even wear better and be more durable, but for many, the name matters most.
I agree with you more on the iPhone though, certainly it seems to have pushed other companies into gear in some respects, but I think it's worked both ways in a way. Apple came along with a phone with not too many features but with a really nice looking UI and a much more tightly integrated experience. This has pushed other companies to follow, but on the same note, Apple has been pushed to follow the likes of Nokia with 3G, GPS and so on also when it became clear the iPhone was losing customers because of lack of said features so it has been a two way street. The underlying point though is that yes, without Apple, existing phone manufacturers wouldn't have had that much needed push.
you bullshit (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm kind of sick of facts
Fixed that for you. Facts:
1. Apple was the first to use a micro hard drive.
2. Everything else was either a tiny flash memory player (64 megs) or used a heavy desktop drive.
3. Apple used 400 Mbps Firewire when everyone else used 11 Mbps USB 1.1.
4. They had a good hardware/software interface.
As to point #4, I remember a nice Penny Arcade strip from way back (which unfortunately I can't find right now) where Jonathan asks Tycho how well Musicmatch staked up against iTunes. It went something like this:
Tycho: Imagine iTunes as a fresh orange, glistening with morning dew...
Johnathan: Okay...."
Tycho: And Musicmatch is a bag filled with dog poop.
Johnathan: Yuck! Dog poop isn't even food!
Tycho: Exactly.
Re:LOL, No... (Score:4, Informative)
Apple makes a nice product but it's for the sheep of the world who blindly follow Apple and limit their demands to only that which Apple says they should have!
I dunno about that one. I hate apple, but I have an ipod classic ever since my Neuros II went tits-up. It matched on all my criteria.
1. Plays MP3s: Check.
2. Can use standard 1/8" stereo headphones: Check
3. Works in Mass Storage mode OR works with linux: Check
4. Costs less than $2/GB: Check.
5. Wasn't from Creative. (Too many bad experiences with Nomads to buy another one)
Honestly, it was the only hard drive-based player (#4) that met #3. And I looked. Boy did I look.
Re:LOL, No... (Score:5, Informative)
mp3 players might have been drab before the iPod, but they were certainly far from useless.
Are you forgetting that Apple was the first to use a 5 gig micro hard drive? Everything else was either tiny flash memory (64-256 megs) or heavy desktop hard drives. And Apple used 400 Mpbs Firewire when everything else used 11 Mpbs USB 1.1.
You can argue the iPod was priced high, or that it's nothing special now. You can't argue that it wasn't revolutionary when it came out.
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Several years later I picked up a refurbed ipod for half the price with 15 g
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Translation: you're a Kool Aid drinking anti-Apple fanboy, a breed vastly more common than the Apple fanboy. Apple could cure cancer and legalize pot, and you'd still find something to bitch about.
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>Of course that is all it is but they are selling like hot-cakes
Yes we must all judge things by popularity. Good idea! The best phone: the iphone. The best artistic endeavor in human history: the reality show. The best food: McDonalds. The best country: india.
I think you can see where Im going with this.
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Fuck. This is totally why I hide my iPhone from view when I'm on the bus or in public in general. It was the best, cheapest option (seriously) for me to get an effective browsing/email client on the road (BBs are crazily expensive and the iPhone 3G
Re:LOL, No... (Score:5, Funny)
Inverse snob.
Re:LOL, No... (Score:5, Funny)
Let me get this straight: you let the opinions of the type of people who post semiliterate anonymous screeds on Slashdot dictate when, where, and how you use a useful piece of equipment? Wow.
He shall return as iSteve (Score:4, Funny)
He had to lose weight and do hormone therapy before all of the bionic implants could go in...
On the upside... (Score:5, Funny)
... Apple now has the thinnest, lightest CEO on the market.
Re:On the upside... (Score:5, Funny)
That is just sick... freaking hilarious... but sick. Mod up. I mean down, I mean up. I feel so guilty.
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Posting AC for obvious reasons:
http://xkcd.com/527/ [xkcd.com]
Re:On the upside... (Score:5, Informative)
Meh. XKCD did it first.
http://xkcd.com/527/ [xkcd.com]
Re:He shall return as iSteve (Score:4, Interesting)
When he first came back to Apple in 1998, he was known as the iCEO, because for awhile it was thought that he would only be interim CEO until they could find a replacement.
Re:He shall return as iSteve (Score:5, Funny)
and the "i" in iCEO is not a letter but actually a tiny picture of Steve.
Re:He shall return as iSteve (Score:4, Funny)
...so Apple will have a cyborg in charge, like MS had the Borg in charge until not so long ago? It's true. Apple IS the new Microsoft.
Soo... (Score:5, Funny)
Would it be safe to say that there is a Jobs opening at Apple?
Or would that be Steve closing?
One more thing... (Score:5, Funny)
This is all just part of the build-up for what will be the most astounding corporate marketing stunt of all time: the death and resurrection of Steve Jobs.
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If I have to buy the entire collector's comic series in order to find out which of the four Steve Jobs' is the "real" one, I'm switching to Windows!
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This is all just part of the build-up for what will be the most astounding corporate marketing stunt of all time: the death and resurrection of Steve Jobs.
So the next product announcement will be for ... the iCorpse?
Nothing To See Here, Move Along (Score:5, Insightful)
Even with the prospect of Jobs having of an extended absence from the day-to-day at Apple I think we will see the company continue to do fine, or at least continue on their existing business path.
While leadership is a key element of business success, so is having a well balanced team of professionals driving your development/innovation teams.
I have to image Apple has this balance in their organization.
Life after Steve (Score:3, Funny)
"Jobs said he had a hormone deficiency that had caused him to dramatically lose weight..."
In related news...
Shareholders show that a Common Sense Deficiency(CSD) causes them to dramatically lose faith in Apple whenever the mere thought of their beloved Steve leaving in any way, shape, or form is mentioned...
Good luck, Mr. Jobs (Score:5, Insightful)
I wish him well. As someone who had to retire at age 33 to fight cancer, I know how discouraging it is to have your body spoil what your brain wants to do. But I also found that giving up the full-time job really did improve my health and led to greater productivity in my remaining activities.
The best luck for him (Score:3, Insightful)
Python (Score:2, Funny)
Oblig.:
The Dead Collector: Bring out yer dead.
[a man puts a body on the cart]
Large Man with Dead Body: Here's one.
The Dead Collector: That'll be ninepence.
Steve Jobs: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: What?
Large Man with Dead Body: Nothing. There's your ninepence.
Steve Jobs: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is.
Steve Jobs: I'm not.
The Dead Collector: He isn't.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
Steve Jobs: I'm getting bett
Seems like a good idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Since the major aesthetic overhall in the iMac, MBP and MB lines in the past year or two, and OS X 10.6 shaping up to be a smaller update (aesthetically and technically) to 10.5 than the 10.4->10.5 jump was; it doesn't appear that there is going to be much "new business" from now to then. Maybe some hardware line updates to faster chips, and some 10.5.x updates; but nothing major. I'd imagine 10.6 won't even ship until summer [wikipedia.org]; just in time for the WWDC in June.
Re:Seems like a good idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Steve may be a mirco-managing megalomanic, but he also has some REALLY good people working at Apple who don't receive wider recognition (much).
For all we know, all those annoying things about Apple (eg - lack of headless iMac, lack of Firewire on Macbooks, crappy iLife feature refreshes...) might go away with Steve's absence too.
Those guys working under Steve might be getting their chance to shine.
Cancer sucks (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Cancer sucks (Score:5, Insightful)
Story goes that Charles de Gaulle [wikipedia.org], who was often referred to as France's "indispensable man" due to his huge influence in setting that nation's course after the Nazi conquest, was asked what he thought of that title.
His response: "The graveyards are full of indispensable men."
Scotty!... (Score:4, Funny)
Buy buy buy (Score:5, Interesting)
I just don't see that Jobs going changes the fundamentals of the company all that much. I think Apple at the current price is a great buy, and if it tanks tomorrow, it is a great buy. Time to take some money out of bonds :)
Re:Sell quick (Score:4, Insightful)
the market says "sell sell sell!"
Makes me glad I'm long Apple put options. Ahh, schadenfreude.
Re:Sell quick (Score:5, Funny)
I bought AAPL at $50 a few years ago, it's the only individual stock besides AMD (which I got burned on in the late 1990s) I have ever purchased. For a while there AAPL was touching $200 and my wife and I said that our stock in AAPL is going to pay for our daughter's college education someday.
With the way that AAPL has been going lately, I think she's going to have to go to a community college :/
Re:Sell quick (Score:4, Insightful)
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They got a bit of a head start at Lakeside vs some kid in the inner city with no access to computer technology, but they Gates and Allen did work for their success too. They could have easily been swept under the rug during the first years. Wasn't one of the themes of millionaire next door also that people who invest in stock as a way to get rich aren't actually working for success and so deserve not much at all being that they assume the smallest risk unlike the entrepreneurs behind the companies investors
Re:Sell quick (Score:5, Interesting)
Not that I recall - the major theme that I recall is that millionaires tend to be the winners of a high risk bet - entrepreneurism. They're also people of normal taste and lifestyle, with a large difference between what they bring in and what they spend.
My original point was that, on average, people don't value what they're given, just what they have to work for.
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What is gained too lightly is esteemed too little. its an old saw but very true.
Or the corollary - "What is gained at great expense is valued too highly."
Which is the reason frats haze pledges.
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If you spent "x" buying Apple at $50 you should have sold half of it when it hit $100. Then you would have still had "x" dollars worth of Apple and "x" dollars with which to diversify into other stocks. Even after Apple's share price takes a big hit tomorrow, it'll probably still be above $50.
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I'm already heavily diversified. The amount I have in 401K is many times larger than the amount I have in AAPL. And AAPL has done much, much better for me over the last four years than my 401K has done. I kinda wish I'd put it all in AAPL to be honest :/
I could spend time researching and trying to figure out what would be a good stock to complement AAPL in a diversification scheme, and sell off half of my AAPL when it gets back up to $100 (which it will, I have no doubt) as you have suggested. But that
Re:Sell quick (Score:4, Informative)
try: Food (Even in a severe depression we still have to eat)
if you're concerned with longevity and business models, Consider:
There are many others. Do not get lulled into laissez-faire attitudes toward investment. You have to diversify outside of 'sexy' industry groups. When everyone heads for the exits the fundamentally sound companies get hammered, right along with the 'pretenders' and it is sad, brutal and devastating for a lot of people when that happens.
If I sound harsh, I'm sorry, but life and some of its lessons are far harsher than anything I could come up with. And no matter who you are, I don't like seeing people get hurt. I watched some very intelligent people as their retirement nest eggs got decimated, several times. It is not something I would wish on anyone.
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As long as we can have the jar sitting on top of a black turtleneck, maybe with the turtleneck part sort of fitting around the bottom of the jar, we should be okay.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Cancer (Score:5, Informative)
Your data is not relevant, and Jobs and Patrick Swayze are going throgh very different things. Jobs had/has a neuroendocrine tumor, which is much more survivable than the much more common adenocarcinoma that Swayze has, which has a 5% 5-year survival rate. Jobs basically has a completely different type of cancer than you usually think of when you hear the term pancreatic cancer.
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Yes, but he said "folks" which automatically makes his post a trusted authority.
Re:Pancreatic Cancer (Score:5, Informative)
Learn to discriminate your pancreatic cancers. Adenocarcinoma has a 5% survival rate. Steve had a islet cell neuroendocrine tumor, which has a 50 to 75% 5 year survival.
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do you seriously think anything has fundamentally changed in Apple's business?
Stock price doesn't have anything to do with the actual fundamentals of a company, only how those fundamentals are perceived. Like it or not, Job's absence may have an effect on stock price, even if the company is run exactly the same as it would have, were he still at the helm. Perception is reality; at least in the market.
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It does in the long term. Yeah, if you're day trading you care a lot about the latest Steve-news. If you're investing then you care much more about those actual fundamentals of the company.
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And I'll BUY BUY BUY tomorrow... do you seriously think anything has fundamentally changed in Apple's business? It still remains to be seen.
The reality distortion field has been compromised!
What else do you think has been keeping the viruses at bay? Technology? NO! It was Steves' own convictions which overwhelmed the surrounding paradigm, but no more...
What's changed? (Score:3, Insightful)
And I'll BUY BUY BUY tomorrow... do you seriously think anything has fundamentally changed in Apple's business? It still remains to be seen.
Well, yeah, something fundamental has changed. Steve Jobs won't be there. Look at Apple's history. That makes all the difference in the world.
When the guy does die... whenever that is... it's going to be earth shattering in the tech sector, and you'll never see anything like it in this business again. Jobs is the Elvis of the computing business. When he goes, you'll see people weeping on TV. Silly or not, that's the way it will be. And the endless speculation for months (and years) will be "Can Apple surviv
Re:What's changed? (Score:5, Insightful)
Jobs has had more than a decade with which to root out the nonperformers at Apple and replace them with performers. Performers can carry on in the boss' absence. Nonperformers cannot.
If over all that time he did nothing to replace the people who couldn't run Apple with people who could, he's not as good a CEO as we all thought.
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They will turn the company over to a big-name, high-priced CEO and the company will live or die based on the ability of the board to select the right person (
Not a good time to buy. (Score:3, Insightful)
Rich people think about the day after tomorrow. Now is not a good time to buy. This stock has nowhere to go but down until at least a few mo
I meant, good thing Disney bought Pixar (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Wow... (Score:5, Informative)
I'm going to make a /. post next time Michael Morhaime (head of Blizzard) is hung over. Honestly, what other CEOs get this cult level of worship?
What other CEOs have personally made noticeable changes to the world?
Jobs was indirectly responsible for the IBM PC, which is what "PC compatible" computers were imitations of. IBM created the PC in response to the threat they felt from Apple.
Jobs was responsible for bringing a lot of the ideas from Xerox PARC to a mainstream market, something Xerox couldn't have done. Most people don't realize that Apple pioneered the "noun, then verb" paradigm we're all familiar with in GUIs (select an icon, then choose something to do with it); Xerox's GUI required the user to select an action first, before selecting the item upon which to perform it. This makes sense if you're used to a command line, but it's less intuitive to the masses.
After leaving Apple, Jobs created NeXT, which was the source of much of what became Mac OS X. Microsoft has been incorporating a lot of Apple's ideas into Vista and Windows 7.
Jobs bought Pixar from George Lucas, and was at the helm during the creation of the first feature film ever to be entirely computer animated. Jobs now sits on the board of directors of Disney and owns 7% of the company. RenderMan has become an industry standard.
This isn't worship; Jobs has been genuinely influential in a lot of areas. The fact that you (correctly) felt the need to add "(head of Blizzard)" after Morhaime's name is why he doesn't get this kind of attention. Sure, Blizzard has had a significant impact on computer gaming... but what else has he done?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Man, how I wanted to go that salt-and-red
Re:Shoulda eaten more meat, Steve-o! (Score:5, Insightful)
Even healthy living can kill you I guess.
Eat more bacon, you won't live long. but at least you can have some bacon.
Re:Shoulda eaten more meat, Steve-o! (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't suppose his frequent use of off-list pharmaceuticals and other fun-seeking drugs during his youth would have had anything to do with his poor health. While 60 isn't old, it seems like a lot of people his age who "lived too hard" are now suffering the consequences through odd early/uneven aging, hormonal issues, cancer, auto-immune diseases, and other odd things we've not seen before.
Always pisses me off when people use the argument of "'blah' diseases that we've never seen before" - all we've done is improved diagnostics so we can tell "what" is killing you, and in some cases, "why" you got it.
Re:Two words: Keith Richards (Score:4, Informative)
Smoking doesn't guarantee lung cancer either. That doesn't mean it's unrelated.