Comments on: Steve Jobs steps down, Tim Cook runnin’ the ship until June

By: Bill Taroli

Bill Taroli — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:52:11 +0000

steps down? Uh, no. Leave of absence and “still involved in key decision making by agreement of the board” doesn’t spell stepping down. Could that happen in the future? Sure. But not just yet. This should just be Apple’s wake up call that it needs to get more Jobs religion instilled in it’s management ranks and not rely so heavily upon one person to keep that flame burning.

By: backbeat

backbeat — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 05:30:03 +0000

^Speak the language … or simply don’t.

Idiot.

By: Galvatron

Galvatron — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 05:27:33 +0000

apple dosn’ really inaovate at all they mosty imitae the battery pack is is the slight expeption thgoh also seve toal yearly salery is $1 the rest of it is all in stock so that one of the reasons the ceos health and action relfect the driection of the compan’s stock price. i dosn’ have to remd you abouttpublicly trade companies fiduciary right to the shareholders do I? no? thought so.

By: Georg

Georg — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:53:43 +0000

About time Mr. Jobs. Apples acting in the last year was unfortunate. (no mac mini update, mirroring displays across nearly whole product line, no firewire interfaces where they should be and now mbp with not replaceable battery …) Despite his merits more freshness in this company would be better.

By: dante

dante — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:52:50 +0000

Get well soon Steven. And I do mean soon.

By: b.N

b.N — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:50:57 +0000

@Jack

the information is correct. after hr trading of appl was haulted.

By: CC

CC — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:49:18 +0000

Apple is all about innovation, and that won’t change with Steve not there. I am sure there are several products in the pipeline to carry Apple for the forseeable future. That said, Jobs really is the face of the company, and I would expect a major drop in share price in the immediate aftermath. I hate to say it, but I also feel that there is no way he comes back at all. Although no one has acknowledged that it is pancreatic cancer again, it seems liekly, and that truly is a death sentence. Best wishes to Steve.

By: Likeabite

Likeabite — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:35:26 +0000

First on to the serious issue at hand…as someone already noted he did just shift in tone and direction from it won’t affect me as CEO to having to take a leave of absence…it must be serious and all the best wishes to him.

I honestly do think that Apple is the only company who’s CEO represents the brand to a T, whereby his health or absence can have a negative effect on its stock. This is simply because if any other CEO was sick or had to step down it would be reported but it would not receive as much coverage and scrutiny as this. A lot of people have grown to love the Apple brand through Steve Jobs and some, not all, might leave as he does. The fear here is that he won’t be there forever since that’s a physical impossibility so people who fear the company’s demise now should have a very bleak outlook for Apple as a whole. Bill Gates left his post as Microsoft and the Microsoft ship did not crash but I have a feeling that Jobs leaving Apple permanently or not, though it won’t crash, will have a huge effect on the company. Some people believe that he’s the only one with the vision of the company so where does that vision go if he’s no longer there? Microsoft, Dell, Cisco, Oracle and the other countless companies don’t have this CEO syndrome where people believe the CEO is the company; in Apple’s case however, that is the case as a lot of people have stated here. This is not to say that it is true but a lot of people believe it so Apple as a brand might not have the best future if the face/innovator/cult leader or whatever u want to call him is sick now and we all know he won’t be there forever because as humans we do pass. We’ll just have to wait and see I guess.

And to those saying that buying one brand of electronics doesn’t make you “go” anything I have to agree but with some reservations. If you love iPods and macbooks or whatever thats cool but if that’s all you buy when at times the next alternative seems better by features/price/build quality/battery life and whatnot then you can see why people will have that “cultist” attitude about you: No matter what you’ll purchase the Apple product and that’s what cult followers do…no matter what seems rational they’ll do what they know or is told. Although that is a bit extreme the ideology is still the same.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:02:29 +0000

Steve Jobs is not going to come back. Around the end of May, he will announce he needs to take a longer time off because unforeseen complications arouse. Then during that extra time off he is going to transition out of being CEO.

He had a great run and I wish him all the best.

By: bag of crackberry

bag of crackberry — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:52:23 +0000

Steve-o will never die they will upload him into some super secret apple super computer then he will launch nukes like sky-net fron terminator and junk.

By: Black93300ZX

Black93300ZX — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:15:46 +0000

I can’t understand all of the people saying “maybe this will open up 3rd party apps”, “maybe this will show a big change in company philosophy”, are you stupid? He’ll still be behind the scenes on any major changes, and that would be a major change. The entire company philosophy doesn’t change because he leaves his duties to someone he trusts, if that were the case he wouldn’t trust them. Stop being so hopeful that your iPhones will finally stack up to the other smartphones on the market, or that when you buy a song on iTunes you’ll actually own it, that will never happen. It is what it is, no Steve Jobs, that doesn’t mean no restrictions.

By: DK

DK — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:49:10 +0000

This is sad. Speaking medically Steve has been on borrowed time for several months now, so the company now will have to dust-off its “Succession Plan” and try to keep the place afloat. But back to his health, seriously, it does not look good. The 22-week timeframe for this absence is eerily congruent with life expectancy of someone at the stage that one may be having had the type of cancer he has, and for the length of time he’s had it. Very sad, sad, sad. Doesn’t matter who he is, what he runs, or how much he makes. It’s sad to lose a person.

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:46:09 +0000

Ok you need to do a little better job of providing a critical review of your facts before you publish. Apple share were NOT halted because of this news.

However, Nortel shares WERE halted today due to a surprise bankruptcy announcement.

By: Ervel Flick

Ervel Flick — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:15:10 +0000

Wish him all the best.

By: backbeat

backbeat — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:37:10 +0000

@Gal-Tron: You just subscribe to a different flavor KoolAde, that’s all, fool.

By: Josh

Josh — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:34:34 +0000

@gquaglia

You are the reason 12 year olds shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a computer. If you disagree then do so in an intelligent way. Insults only make you look like a moron, not me.

By: Ron

Ron — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:50:58 +0000

Steve, we all wish you a speedy recovery.

By: Jerry Marcus

Jerry Marcus — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:14:01 +0000

STEVE…GODS SPEED AND GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY….HOPE YOU MAKE A STRONG COME BACK

By: StevenGlansburg

StevenGlansburg — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:12:21 +0000

I’m putting my Macbook, iphone and ipod up on craigslist right now…. they are instantly going to fall apart and suck now that Steve Jobs is not running the company…

…get a grip dorks!

By: kizzle

kizzle — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:03:14 +0000

I hope he’s ok and come summer he’s back at Apple again.

By: Galvatron

Galvatron — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:01:13 +0000

hey if it means less koolaide drinkers Im all for it.

By: gquaglia

gquaglia — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:51:52 +0000

blockquote>Without him Apple will suffer and eventually die.

You are a moron.

By: CharlesA

CharlesA — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:44:42 +0000

Hello: I love my iPhone 3G and my new iMac 20″. They make a great pair. Thanx Steve and crew for the new technologies associated with them. Charles

By: Krikor Keusseyan

Krikor Keusseyan — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:44:03 +0000

Its all a big marketing gimmick. Keep the company under wraps while they work on something new to come up with. Give them time to develop, and when ready bring back our CEO which everyone cares so dearly about to gain free publicity.

Stocks will go down now, but come june, they’ll sky rocket!

oh ya.. my 2cents lol

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:35:26 +0000

I’m no fan of Apple, but I do wish Jobs the best.

Without him Apple will suffer and eventually die.

By: backbeat

backbeat — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:25:46 +0000

@neodorian: Quite the kneejerk reaction, but to each their own.

By: Dtest54

Dtest54 — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:24:17 +0000

Greg – Mac surged again in the late 90’s and into this decade. get a clue.

not good news and Steve does so much for tech junkies that it would be a sad day when he leaves for good.

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:20:24 +0000

The iPhone experienced the euphoria that the Mac experienced in the 80s, particularly with the Mac Plus. That all eventually faded, probably like the iPhone will as the hoards of touch screen copycats close in. Within a year the iPhone will probably have lost its pinache and become just another smartphone or less.

By: neodorian

neodorian — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:20:14 +0000

Sorry backbeat. You can keep your vapid trends and corporate label whoring. I’m not “going” anything by choosing one brand of personal computer over another. It’s that kind of fashionable hipster lifestyle crap that Jobs brought to the computer tech world and that counterbalances any contributions his company may have made. I don’t wish the guy ill but neither do I care about him any more than any other CEO or marketing guy. Now pardon me while I head to the snack machine and “go Pepsi” before I go make a call on my HTC and get back to work on my Thinkpad.

By: b.N

b.N — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:17:23 +0000

Umm.. can you say “class action lawsuit”?

Last week he just told investors that his health concerns weren’t grave enough to effect his running of apple and this week he needs to step down to “focus on his health.”

Haha oh Steve.