Apple shares sag as Jobs health rumours rage
p2pnet news view | Off Topic:- Investors spooked by Jobs-less Macworld. Let’s blame everyone but Apple.
Those are headlines from the Globe and Mail and CNet News on Apple’s sudden and unexpected withdrawal from MacWorld, the tradeshow that’s become the traditional product launchpad and kick-off place for carefully placed rumours and leaks.
Apple’s departure may be the kiss of death for IDG World Expo’s Macworld, says PC Magazine.
JupiterMedia vice president Michael Gartenberg, “noted that the Internet gives most companies an easy way to reach companies,” says the story. “If you’re relying on MacWorld to reach your target audience, you have larger problems,” he said.
“The only thing propping up MacWorld was Apple. Even Adobe had pulled out this year. Without Apple, there is no reason for that show to exist.”
Does the announcement mean a relapse for Steve Jobs who is, after all, Apple personified? Could the company get along without him?
Four years ago he was said to have survived a “very rare form of pancreatic cancer called an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor“.
But rumours that he was again ill were a broad this summer and, “The latest flurry of talk was set off on Monday when, in a conference call after the release of Apple’s earnings, a company executive responded to a question about Mr. Jobs’s condition by saying that it was ‘a private matter’,” said the New York Times, going on, “But in recent weeks, Mr. Jobs has reassured several people that he is doing well ”
Now, “When I asked Apple spokesman Steve Dowling about Mr Jobs’ health, I thought the line had gone dead because of the silence at the other end,” says the BBC, continuing »»»
“No amount of questions on the topic allicited a response.
Alas that just leaves people like me, analysts, bloggers, Mac fans and so on and so on to fill the vacuum. And there is nothing a story loves more than a vacuum because that is when all sorts of theories are cast among us and allowed to take seed.
Of course there is another theory that has taken root of late and that is that Mr Jobs is looking to help groom a successor. While he may well continue to be a pitchman for Apple at other standalone events, he may slowly pass the reigns of power to others in the company.
So come on down Phil Schiller, who is Apple’s head honcho of product marketing, who will stand in for Mr Jobs by presenting the keynote speech at Macworld. No pressure on him then!
Meanwhile, Jobs’ health, “continues to be an issue for the company’s fans and shareholders, who have not forgotten that it took Mr. Jobs nearly a year to disclose that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003,” says the Globe and Mail, continuing:
But, “Both the company and Mr. Jobs insist that he is cancer-free.”
Who’s to blame for the uncertainty?
“Fact is that Apple brought on this mess,” says CNet News, going on:
“After the June developers’ conference, questions got raised about Jobs’ appearance. The company said his health was a private matter. Some argued that the demands of corporate governance or greater transparency should require Apple to be more forthcoming. But that was the final word from corporate.
“So now what to think about Jobs’ mysterious withdrawal from Macworld?
“This is not the way a company as PR savvy as Apple usually rolls out the news. We don’t know whether Jobs is feeling punk or whether he was dumped in a power struggle. That makes it a rumor monger’s field. No surprise there. In blaming dark forces for spreading rumor and innuendo for financial gain, [Silicon Valley bureau chief, Jim] Goldman misses the bigger point. Apple could have avoided all of this by opening up. Instead, its communications with the outside world continue to assume the contours of a raised middle finger.”
Stay tuned.
withdrawal from MacWorld – Steve Jobs pulls out of Macworld show, December 17, 2008
PC Magazine – How Apple’s MacWorld Pullout Affects Its Partners, December 17, 2008
very rare – Steve Jobs on the mend, April 2, 2004
New York Times -Talk of Chief`s Health Weighs on Apple`s Share Price, July 23, 2008
BBC – What gives at Apple?, December 18, 2008
Globe and Mail – Investors spooked by Jobs-less Macworld, December 18, 2008
CNet News – It’s official: Let’s blame everyone but Apple, December 17, 2008
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December 18th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Now I know what sounds like tin cans in that annoying around the bend song
give me D R M M M M around the bend
Ill stay forever(8)