KEY POINTS:
You may have heard that Steve Jobs has taken leave until mid year for health reasons. Of course the financial stock of the infamous Californian computer company dived at the news. No, I didn't buy any bargain basement shares, but I should have.
US tech journalists have been put on edge by the revelations. To put it mildly, they feel used.
On January 14th (while I was away camping, which is why I'm only writing about it now) Apple posted an 'Apple Media Advisory' detailing the contents of an email Jobs sent to Apple staff admitting that his "health-related issues are more complex" than he had originally thought. Jobs then stated he would take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.
Now, there was a buzz all through late '08 that Jobs was ailing. This was always denied by Apple, until Jobs publicly stated he had (OK, it sounds weird in retrospect) a deficiency that stopped him absorbing protein. This was after the bombshell - there's no other word for it - that Apple would be attending its last Macworld conference in San Francisco, putting the entire expo at risk.
But it was all a little unconvincing, even when Apple's board confirmed it was true and backed Steve all the way.
In the same state of mind that I am sure I would be guilty of (OK, and that I have been guilty of), some tech journalists are such Apple fans they may not always pursue the truth if it concerns The Beloved Company. We always look for a silver (and preferably Apple-shaped) lining.
But hey, it was the man's health. It felt unseemly to pry. And of course I also excuse myself in that I am so damn far from California. I can only read what these US-based journos write. They may have deep sources inside Apple, but I sure as hell don't.
And now those US-based Apple commentators are hurtin'. Jim Goldman, the Silicon Valley Bureau chief for CNBC, called Apple's behaviour "bordering on deplorable" - since Goldman had gone on record saying the rumours Jobs were sick were false, he feels particularly affronted.
The "deplorable" quote came on a CNBC video in turn posted by 9to5 Mac: Apple Intelligence in a combined interview with 'Fake Steve' Dan Lyons.
The two have a real go at each other on the news item. It's kind of entertaining in a sick way, like watching trains collide. Lyons keeps demanding Goldman apologise, even though Goldman says he could only repeat what his sources told him - he didn't have access to Jobs' medical records.
Dan Lyons is a fascinating case himself. Newsweek's tech columnist was the long-time anonymous poster of a pretty funny blog called Fake Steve Jobs, parodying the life of the charismatic Apple leader. But Lyons stopped doing the blog last July (mid-08) because he feared Jobs was getting a reoccurrence of the pancreatic cancer which had afflicted Apple's CEO a few years previous.
In the filmed interview, Lyons said Apple had been playing fast and loose with the truth for eight months, likening the firm to "a girlfriend who cheats on you." Ouch. Lyons has a lot more to say on the subject on the Newsweek site, if you're interested. He's pretty scathing of Apple's PR policies.
Over at Daring Fireball, the normally unreserved John Gruber is, well, reserved, writing "If this is all Jobs chooses to share regarding the specific details of what ails him, that is up to him." That's partly because Gruber fears Jobs really is getting worse, jeopardising Apple.
Considering how much money Jobs has, you have to admit it's rather incredible that his potential legion of well paid doctors could get it so badly wrong. It's much easier to rationalise the timing and tone of the announcements had more to do with the season and the Macworld show, not to mention stock price concerns.
It's a shame it all got so unseemly, in my opinion, because Apple has been doing so well and staff should have been celebrating, not prevaricating. I bet it will all come out in one or more tell-all books in a few years.
But so what? A CEO getting sick is no big deal really. They're human, after all. CEOs get sick. Life goes on.
So how fares Apple? Pretty good, actually. I don't think Apple is in serious trouble - or in any trouble, for that matter - with Steve Jobs out for a few months. Going by glimpses of forthcoming products, there's a line of new and interesting things coming out over the next few months to sail Apple over the choppy tech sea.
Apple's top team, which includes Tim Cooke, looks experienced and professional. Of Cooke, Priya Ganapati of Wired says "...if there's one man Jobs himself trusts to stand in his shoes, it is his second in command, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook." Indeed, he has the role till June.
Jobs has done a good job of creating a management team. Of course, that's what they said about Julius Caesar.
- Mark Webster mac.nz
