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Businesses Apple

Steve Jobs Taking Medical Leave of Absence 471

Posted by CmdrTaco from the zomg-everybody-panic dept.
Uttini writes "Apple CEO Steve Jobs has just announced that he is taking a medical leave of absence, according to a release issued by the company today. While it's unclear what the reason is for the medical leave, Jobs' previous medical history includes pancreatic cancer as well as a liver transplant. While Jobs is out, Tim Cook is to be responsible for all of Apple's day to day operations."
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Steve Jobs Taking Medical Leave of Absence More

Steve Jobs Taking Medical Leave of Absence

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  • Wishing him well (Score:5, Insightful)

    by KingSkippus ( 799657 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @09:44AM (#34904032) Homepage Journal

    I hope that no matter what operating system or computer manufacturer you love or hate, everyone can come together and wish him well. Whether you love or hate what he's done in the industry, he's a fellow human being first, and I hope he has a speedy recovery.

    • Re:Wishing him well (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17, 2011 @09:46AM (#34904048)

      Please extend the same sentiment when gates is not feeling well.

      • Re:Wishing him well (Score:4, Insightful)

        by pyalot ( 1197273 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @09:50AM (#34904072)
        Please extend the same sentiment when Bush, Palin, Limbaugh, Stewart, Castro, Chavez, Gaddafi, Sarkozy, Uwe Boll and many others do not feel well.

        • Re:Wishing him well (Score:5, Funny)

          by leathered ( 780018 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @10:09AM (#34904282)

          I would not wish ill health on any of those people but Uwe Boll, the man has caused misery for millions of people.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by MrHanky ( 141717 )

          No, not Uwe Boll.

        • Re:Wishing him well (Score:5, Insightful)

          by h4rr4r ( 612664 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @10:41AM (#34904650)

          Some of those people are not like the others. Some have killed others to further their own goals.

        • Re:Wishing him well (Score:4, Insightful)

          by JWW ( 79176 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @10:44AM (#34904684)

          Huh, really? I'm sorry, but malevolent dictators do not deserve the same kind of respect that CEO's, pundits, and even directors of crappy movies deserve.

        • Re:Wishing him well (Score:4, Insightful)

          by respice ( 974320 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @11:18AM (#34905062)
          I do wish them all well- even the ones who don't like my country. Even those who are "villains."

          John Donne, Meditations XVII:

          No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.

          I don't have to like what they do to wish them good health.

        • um... fuck no. Steve Jobs is a corporate executive that competes in a market place to earn money. He has done nothing bad in this world that I'm aware of and has headed a company that has produced some great products. I am the farthest thing from an apple drone you can find, but I have no problem honoring the man.

          However some of the people on the list have caused great harm, death, and spread lies that have harmed the lives of millions of people. There are people on your list who I would love to hear ar

      • Re:Wishing him well (Score:4, Insightful)

        by syousef ( 465911 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @01:52PM (#34907350) Journal

        Wish Jobs or Gates well?

        Why? I don't know them personally. These aren't my family. I don't admire them. They're rich billionaires who've often made their money by stepping on people and they have their own family to wish them well. Jobs included.

        Wishing them well would feel like stumbling around drunk yelling "I love you, man" to random strangers.

    • Re:Wishing him well (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Kokuyo ( 549451 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @09:47AM (#34904058) Journal

      Absolutely. Yet I must ask: Why should I care about this? I don't know him personally and have thus a hard time seeing the news-value in this... now if this was a stock market news site...

      • Re:Wishing him well (Score:5, Interesting)

        by RDW ( 41497 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @10:05AM (#34904236)

        'now if this was a stock market news site...'

        The BBC is reporting Apple shares in Frankfurt are down 7% already, and CNN notes that Apple is due to release an earnings report tomorrow. So I guess the announcement was particularly carefully timed, not only falling on a US public holiday, but coming just before an earnings report that will presumably be positive and help to mitigate the damage when the US market re-opens. But that's just good business, of course. Best wishes to Steve!

        • Fucking stupid (Score:4, Interesting)

          by Pojut ( 1027544 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @10:12AM (#34904324) Homepage

          I never understood the volatility of Apple's stock. Jobs could stub his toe and the stock would drop. Someone who works at Infinite Loop could get constipated, and the stock would drop. Someone's iPhone could get a scratch on the front glass, and the stock would drop.

          Why is Apple's stock so prone to heavy fluctuation at the even the slightest hint of something not being perfect?

          • Re:Fucking stupid (Score:5, Insightful)

            by twidarkling ( 1537077 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @10:16AM (#34904358)

            It's because Apple's not based on product, it's based on image. If anything seems like it could even start to threaten that image, people want out before it crashes.

            • If it wasn't for that meddling Apple it be the year of Linux on the desktop!

              Like all warfare is based on deception, all business is based on image. You could have the best product ever but if your company has a bad business image no one will touch it.

              • Re:Fucking stupid (Score:5, Interesting)

                by gorzek ( 647352 ) <gorzek.gmail@com> on Monday January 17, 2011 @10:56AM (#34904800) Homepage Journal

                Then how do you explain Microsoft, which has never had a very positive image, yet managed to dominate both the desktop operating system and Web browser markets?

                Just goes to show you, backroom deals and monopolist strongarming also have their place in business, and can sometimes trump "image."

                • Re:Fucking stupid (Score:5, Insightful)

                  by Duradin ( 1261418 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @11:32AM (#34905260)

                  MS never had a good image here. The suits and pencil pushers that actually get things purchased for business are a different story. "No one ever got fired for buying IBM" basically. /. is a tempest in a teacup when it comes to what the rest of the world likes or dislikes.

              • Re:Fucking stupid (Score:5, Interesting)

                by morgauxo ( 974071 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @11:32AM (#34905250)
                Maybe. OSX sure took a lot of steam out of the Linux desktop. But as much as it pains me to admit, there were/are other issues involved.

                Just as games were starting to be released for Linux the video drivers really went down the toilet. Sure, it was due to the ideology conflict between FOSS and proprietary hardware vendors, not a technical problem with Linux. That distinction didn't change the fact your card wouldn't work. This is getting quite a bit better now but it sucked for a really long time. Now 3d support is 'necessary' even for normal non-game desktop use if you want to fulfill current user's expectations.

                Some might argue that the shift from hobbyist based kernel development to corporate sponsored either helped or hurt the Desktop. Read about the conflict between the kernel developers and Con Kolivas. The desktop just hasn't been the major focus for a while. It's totally anecdotal but I know my desktop seemed to get less and less responsive with updates until I finally started using BFS.

                And then there is removable media... It's finally getting back to where you can pop in a CD/USB stick and it will mount it and ask you what to do with it.. if you are using one of the heavy desktops like KDE or Gnome that is. I once had a desktop that would access a CDRW using packet writing and supermount just as easily as Windows/DOS used to access a floppy disk! Shortly afterword supermount was gone and the support we have today involves a variety of daemons, u-dev rules, etc... which all have to be working for anything to happen.

            • Re:Fucking stupid (Score:5, Insightful)

              by Fahrvergnuugen ( 700293 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @11:39AM (#34905358) Homepage

              People don't buy iPhones because Apple is cool, they buy iPhones because the iPhone is cool. Your comment doesn't make any sense.

              For a huge section of the consumer market, Apple makes the *best* products. People don't spend their money on iPhones because they think Apple is cool, they spend it because they want the product Apple makes

              Those products are as good as they are in large part because of Steve Job's persuit of perfection. The guy is sick. Everyone is worried that Apple will lose focus without Jobs (like it did in the past).

              • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

                by twidarkling ( 1537077 )

                People buy apple products because apple makes them seem cool. The iPhone isn't objectively better than any of the half-dozen equivalent smartphones out there. They buy it because of marketing and image. Stockholders know that. Without Jobs, the image starts to waver. My comment makes perfect sense.

                • Re:Fucking stupid (Score:4, Insightful)

                  by speedingant ( 1121329 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @01:17PM (#34906778)
                  I call bullshit here. The iPhone hardware isn't as good, but have you actually tried an actual comparison between say, Android and the iOS? It's like chalk and cheese. The usability of Android for day to day tasks, and general "Smart Phone" abilities, sucks. I had it crash a few times, it refuses to connect to wireless networks sometimes, and it felt unpolished. I bought an iPhone, because it actually works really well. And the App Store trumps the stagnated piece of shit Google offers.

                  • Re:Fucking stupid (Score:4, Interesting)

                    by mjwx ( 966435 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @08:10PM (#34911098)

                    I call bullshit here.

                    As do I, call BS on your post.

                    but have you actually tried an actual comparison between say, Android and the iOS?

                    Looks at desk and see Iphone 3GS and Motorola Milestone (droid for you yanks). Fairly similar in hardware, the Milestone runs a custom ROM (Cyanogen).

                    The usability of Android for day to day tasks, and general "Smart Phone" abilities,

                    Email = Android wins on account of third party mail programs such as Touchdown which provides Exchange functionality unrivalled by any other mobile client and Gmail, which is head and shoulders above the IOS client in functionality and usability. As for POP/IMAP its dead even IMHO.

                    Web Browsing = Android 2.2 is much faster than IOS 4.2. In addition to this Android has the option of having flash installed if you want it, IOS does not effectively cutting itself off from a large portion of the web. Android wins here.

                    Calendaring, = IOS by a nose hair. Simply because connectivity to multiple calendars is easier. With Android you end up using separate programs if you don't use one connected to Gmail. Apart from that, Android has slightly more functionality in it's calendaring thanks to third party programs.

                    IM = Even seeing as both IOS and Android connect to the most popular IM networks.

                    Multi-tasking = I almost didn't add this one because it's so lopsided. Android by a lap and a half. Android has proper multitasking and a damn good scheduler. Apple's multitasking is limited to first party products, for third party applications you have "I wish it were multitasking" where the application is permitted access to a limited number of persistent API's and not permitted to make its own services, the application itself is suspended when navigated away from.

                    I had it crash a few times, it refuses to connect to wireless networks sometimes,

                    Actually, my Milestone connects to and can find networks the Iphone simply cannot. The only disadvantage Android has is a lack of authenticating proxy options in the stock ROM, on Cyanogen it's not an issue.

                    I've also not had a force close in months and this is using a custom ROM so I again call BS.

                    And the App Store

                    The IOS appstore has more applications, the Android Market has more variety. Only on Android can I get Bluetooth FTP, Samba file sharing programs and third party email clients.

                    stagnated piece of shit Google offers.

                    That's really balanced, which seems to be the central theme of your post.

                    Now for the much touted UI, they are practically the same. You have to be a retarded monkey not to be able to figure out either one. As for polish, this is entirely based on perception and bias. Android is polished enough, perfect is the enemy of done and if they spent all their time polishing the chrome on Android I'd miss out on great features like widgets.

                    What I dont like about Apple are two things.
                    1. The way Apple does business. The litigation, patent threats, vendor lock-in. Everything we deride Microsoft for doing.
                    2. Apple fanboys. Yes you are really that annoying.

                • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

                  by Wovel ( 964431 )

                  Actually it objectively has significantly higher user satisfaction ratings then any phone on the market. It objectively has a much healthier app ecosystem than any other mobile device on the market. It is support by a much better media ecosystem (to everyone but slashdot nerds who think torrenting movies and copying to an sd card is the way to go).

                  It is in fact an objectively better smart phone than any other device on the market. Are there phones that may have this feature or that feature the iPhone doe

                • There are a half-dozen equivalent smartphones out there now, but when the iPhone was released, it was head and shoulders above the rest, and the industry spent years catching up. Same thing with tablets; there's nothing like the iPad out now although I bet in a year or two there will be plenty.

                  That's why Apple's stock is tied to perceptions of Steve Jobs' health. It's not the sales now--those are Tim Cook's responsibility, and he's very very good at those. What Jobs does better than anyone is develop new pr

            • Re:Fucking stupid (Score:5, Insightful)

              by catchblue22 ( 1004569 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @12:16PM (#34905884) Homepage

              It's because Apple's not based on product, it's based on image. If anything seems like it could even start to threaten that image, people want out before it crashes.

              Oh please. Any rational analysis of the history of computing will lead to the conclusion that Jobs is a visionary genius. NeXT created a computer in 1988 that had features that even today's computers don't have. The graphical system was vector based (PostScript), enabling resolution independence. It had an optical drive, years before CD-r existed. It was Unix based. It utilized a middleware framework called OpenStep that allowed an unprecedented degree of platform independence. This system became the basis for OS X. Microsoft didn't even come out with Windows 3.1 until 1992, four years later. Even today, no major OS has resolution independence, and Windows 7 is definitely NOT platform independent. I can think of no other example of a leader leaving such an indelible stamp on a company.

              Indeed, the contrast of Mr. Jobs leadership with the rest of corporate America lays bare the fundamental faults of the latter. Corporate America has become beholden to visionless MBA bean counters, who think they can manage a company without underlying knowledge or insight into the business they direct. They treat management as a skill independent of the underlying businesses they manage. They put forward their management principles as unchallengeable "revealed truths". Contrast Mr. Job's leadership with that of Mr. Sculley who replaced him for a time. Sculley was the president of Pepsico before he took over at Apple. What made him think that his experience managing a soft drink company gave him the ability to lead a computer company I have no idea. But his tenure was an unmitigated disaster. Sculley simply had no vision of what computers should be. He had little insight into the difficulties of coding, the importance of good design, or the future developments in information technology.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by dreamchaser ( 49529 )

            Because much it's value is based on the cult of personality that's been built up around Jobs. They make some good products and have strong market performance but their stock has been overvalued for quite some time. Beware of any stock that relies on a cult of personality for much of its value.

          • Re:Fucking stupid (Score:5, Informative)

            by RJHelms ( 1554807 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @10:18AM (#34904396)

            Why is Apple's stock so prone to heavy fluctuation at the even the slightest hint of something not being perfect?

            I suspect it's because it's horrendously overvalued. Apple investors get scared that the bubble will burst, and no one wants to be the last one out. When it doesn't turn out that the "correction" is actually happening, people regain their senses^H^H^H^H^H^Hgreed.

          • Re:Fucking stupid (Score:5, Insightful)

            by Rogerborg ( 306625 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @10:31AM (#34904542) Homepage

            Why is Apple's stock so prone to heavy fluctuation

            Apple doesn't pay dividends, so its stock is owned by speculators, not investors. Its value is based solely on the belief that there will always be another sucker along in a minute who thinks its worth more than you paid. When you stop believing those suckers will appear, then it's time to bail.

            • Why is Apple's stock so prone to heavy fluctuation

              Apple doesn't pay dividends, so its stock is owned by speculators, not investors. Its value is based solely on the belief that there will always be another sucker along in a minute who thinks its worth more than you paid. When you stop believing those suckers will appear, then it's time to bail.

              Nonsense.

              Whether or not a company pays dividends has nothing to do with whether it's an investment or speculation.

              There are two ways for companies to return value to their shareholders, and both are equally valid. The more traditional one is to distribute quarterly profits as dividend payments. With that method, assuming constant profits which are entirely distributed to shareholders, the value of the company remains constant, and so does the share price. In fact, for such a company, the stock price

          • Re:Fucking stupid (Score:4, Informative)

            by jonbryce ( 703250 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @10:40AM (#34904636) Homepage

            People remember what happened to Apple last time Steve Jobs left.

          • Re:Fucking stupid (Score:5, Interesting)

            by paiute ( 550198 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @10:51AM (#34904734)

            I never understood the volatility of Apple's stock. Jobs could stub his toe and the stock would drop. Someone who works at Infinite Loop could get constipated, and the stock would drop. Someone's iPhone could get a scratch on the front glass, and the stock would drop.

            Why is Apple's stock so prone to heavy fluctuation at the even the slightest hint of something not being perfect?

            Because the truth is that those who are paid big money to analyze the market are not as stupid as we here on Mount Slashdot would like to believe. I would venture to say that they think that one big reason for Apple's success over the years is their ability to go be consistently contrarian. Apple does not follow the crowd in design and implementation. They do not get involved in races to the bottom, and they hew closely to the principle of simplification of the end user's experience instead of packing a product with buttons and a thousand "features". All of these things are in stark contrast to what is taught in business school. So if Jobs goes down and Apple is then led by a modern Scully clone, the company might not do as well in the future.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by RCGodward ( 1235102 )

      I hope that no matter what operating system or computer manufacturer you love or hate, everyone can come together and sell their AAPL stock. Whether you love or hate what he's done in the industry, money is money.

      I'm a horrible person.

    • Came here to say this. I'd probably disagree with him on a lot of points regarding business, and he doesn't seem like the kind of guy I'd hang out with, but as someone who's spent plenty of time in hospitals myself, I hope all goes well.

    • I was hoping to see this post early. :-)

      I wish him good luck in a recovery and that it's nothing serious, although I have a feeling he won't be back in his former position once again this time, after the cancer treatment and liver transplant. I don't think he looked to be in the same shape as after the past medical absence, and energy is exactly what a CEO needs to lead a company of this size, and at the pace of the IT industry. :-/ I unfortunately have little doubt in that this is related to his past medic

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Bloodwine77 ( 913355 )
      I am not a fan of Macs, but the man initially bankrolled Pixar and was smart enough to stay out of their way. I also can respect that he turned around Apple Computer and thanks to that we have more choice in desktop and mobile devices now.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by bughunter ( 10093 )

      I agree. Thank you.

      But unfortunately, this thread will turn into yet again another opportunity for anyone who even implies indirectly anything positive about Apple or their products to be accused of Trolling and met with mind-bogglingly uncivil replies by people who can find insult where none exists merely by reading a comment which can be interpreted as a slight against the brand of computer they're typing on or the operating system upon which it runs.

      I've been a happy Mac owner since 1988 and while there

    • Re:Wishing him well (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 17, 2011 @09:59AM (#34904186)

      There are almost 7 billion people on this planet and if we were all being brutally honest that's almost 7 billion people we don't give a damn about. This isn't insightful, it's fake emotion.

      • There are almost 7 billion people on this planet and if we were all being brutally honest that's almost 7 billion people we don't give a damn about. This isn't insightful, it's fake emotion.

        I would have to agree. I'm not sure why people become attached to famous strangers while not caring about obscure strangers. In both cases, they are people you do not know and who don't know you, and never shall the two meet. Now, I get that sometimes we can empathize more with someone dying of lung cancer (as an exam

        • Except we do care for our quota of 10 obscure people per month. (Your quota may vary.) Usually it's the "Give him/her a chance".

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by syousef ( 465911 )

          I'm not sure why people become attached to famous strangers while not caring about obscure strangers.

          Cult of hero worship is about right. They either admire or wish to emulate something the person has done or some aspect of their personality that they're famous for.

          It all comes down to our basic instincts when it comes to community. Human beings developed to socially cope with small communities including friends of friends and strangers we've only heard about in the 3rd person. Famous people give us someone in common to give us the feeling of being in the same community as strangers. So we act like we know

  • AAPL fall down, go BOOM!

    Actually, there might not be much effect this time. Maybe investors are getting used to this.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by pyalot ( 1197273 )
      shorting AAPL is tricky business.

    • Re:AAPL (Score:5, Informative)

      by Xest ( 935314 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @10:00AM (#34904196)

      Well this is why they announced it on a US bank holiday when no shares are trading there.

      In Frankfurt, Europe meanwhile, Apple shares are already down 7%.

      Looks like it's business as usual in the crazy world of Apple shares.

      • It's down about 10% now in Frankfurt- This seems like too much to me. Steve's health issues are already priced into the stock.

        I bet it will be down more around ~6% when the US stock opens. I'm tempted to buy some stock on the Frankfurt market.

      • Those are probably the knee-jerk responses from short term investors or those who take any bad news as GTFO out of that stock ASAP. Anyone who has invested a decent amount of capital into Apple has already considered the risks of Steve Jobs leaving this world tomorrow. Long term investors are the investors who are wondering or asking whats next in the pipeline to bring in profit not whats the daily status of Steve Jobs liver. Additionally, its not like Apple doesn't have a plan in place for this scenario, e

        • Agreed. It's important to note as well that he's planning on staying on as CEO during the leave, involved in strategic decisions. He's _probably_ expecting to be in pretty good shape during the leave- If he was getting another transplant or some other serious surgery I think the statement describing the leave would _probably_ be worded differently.

  • This does not bode well for Apple (Score:3)

    by UnknowingFool ( 672806 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @09:50AM (#34904084)
    While Steve leaves Apple in capable hands for now, no CEO is as closely associated to the public image as Steve is with Apple. Seriously how many people can name the CEO of another company much less recognize the person? There are few: Larry Ellison, Philip Knight, Rupert Murdoch, Warren Buffet. The stock is going to take a dip just on this news alone.

  • Man, it would totally suck to die as a billionaire at his age...

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by drinkypoo ( 153816 )

      I wanna be happy. We all die. Stacking up zeroes isn't making The Jobs immortal, only immoral.

    • I have pancreatic cancer.. (Score:4)

      by Marbleless ( 640965 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @10:48AM (#34904710)

      .. and trust me, I'd say not being a billionaire sucks more.

      A billionaire not only has people to help get through each day, but there are other people to research possibilities and provide the best possible care.

      However, for me, it sucks more because I don't have the money (or the time) to do all the things I want to do, to see all the things I want to see in this still very beautiful and wonderful world. Nor can I care for those nearest me in the way I want to.

      I wish SJ the best and hope he recovers from whatever ails him.

  • It's good Tim is getting more exposure (Score:5, Interesting)

    by DTemp ( 1086779 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @09:53AM (#34904118)

    (Orthogonal to the fact that everyone wishes Steve good health,)

    It's good for Apple that Tim Cook is getting so much exposure at the helm. There are many shareholders, as well as a significant amount of the tech press, that think Apple can't stand on its own without Steve. Any way Apple can show that it can continue it's current success streak with or without Steve is good for the long-term health of the company.

    • Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if Cook has been pretty much running the show for quite some time. Jobs likes to work, he wouldn't be taking a medical leave unless it was interfering with his job. Things like this don't just crop up, he's probably been dealing with these new complications for some time and hasn't been putting in his full work week and handing off a lot of power to Cook.

      Also, how do we know that Jobs coming back after his liver transplant isn't just to appease the stock market and that

      • Yes, but the things that put Apple ahead of everyone else, like releasing a giant sized iPod touch don't necessarily take a lot of Steve Job's time, however they are things that nobody else thought of before he did.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kjella ( 173770 )

      Probably, but the tech press doesn't love Jobs for his day-to-day operations. I don't think anyone expects Jobs to be really 100% gone unless he's deadly ill. Unless he's really so out of it that Apple must make major strategic choices without him, people will think he's still running the show.

  • Announced on a trading holiday.. (Score:3)

    by WarwickRyan ( 780794 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @10:07AM (#34904250)

    ..to dampen the blow to the stock price... smart..

    • Not just on a holiday, Apple releases their quarterly earnings statement tomorrow [zacks.com]. Obviously they know it will be a big quarter which will further cushion the impact. As I said earlier in the thread, I suspect Jobs returning to his job after his liver transplant was just to appease wall street and the media, and that he hasn't been doing his full work week for some time.
  • How well you can do when you've got a lot of money. I'm pretty sure if I had pancreatic cancer I'd be dead right now.

    • Re:It's amazing (Score:5, Informative)

      by Bloopie ( 991306 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @11:03AM (#34904860)

      He had a rare type of pancreatic cancer called "Islet cell neuroendocrine tumor" which is far less deadly than most pancreatic cancer.

      Sorry to throw a damper on your smug little rant, but it's not unusual at all that he would survive that.

  • *cough* (Score:4, Funny)

    by dakkon1024 ( 691790 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @10:10AM (#34904288)
    Well at least we know it couldn't be a virus.....

  • Privacy for Jobs? Maybe that's not realistic. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by i_want_you_to_throw_ ( 559379 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @10:19AM (#34904400) Journal
    Perhaps no other company is more tied to its CEO than Jobs, except maybe Warren Buffett. For as much as he and his family wish for privacy however it is reasonable for stockholders, especially HUGE stockholders to know how his condition is. When you buy a stock you are buying the leadership also. If anything this is probably going to drop AAPL's stock valuation down a bit to a more realistic level. 2nd biggest market cap in the world? Really? It certainly doesn't deserve it and with their margins getting squeezed and the fact that there only so many worlds they can conquer means that the shorts are probably going to make some $$$ on AAPL soon. Given that the survival of pancreatic cancer is so low and that Jobs decided to do more hippy dippy holistic approaches doesn't bode well for his survival. That's just the way it is. That being said, there probably is no visionary that comes close to Jobs and I am thankful for my iPhone, my iPod, my Mac and my iPad.
  • He has a bad case of flash fever. Sorry it had to be said.

  • Even if you hate Apple... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nilbog ( 732352 ) on Monday January 17, 2011 @01:36PM (#34907100) Homepage Journal

    I don't use the iPhone because I don't like the control Apple exerts over it. Still, I recognize that the place smart phones are in today is due to the existence of the iPhone and without it those of us using smart phones would still be using Windows Mobile 6.5 bricks. So my relationship with Apple is both positive and negative. If we lose Steve Jobs, we will lose a driving force in the industry that will effect the quality of the electronics you buy; Apple or otherwise.

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