“More than any other technology company, Apple Inc. has succeeded in giving its fans products they lust for and the press fodder for speculation on its secretive ways. But even more, its leader Steve Jobs is such an icon to the faithful that he can unwittingly take attention away from a major new product launch,” Therese Poletti reports for MarketWatch.
“That was evident this week when the company unveiled its new faster, cheaper iPhone… But a strong undercurrent at the event focused on the emaciated appearance of co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs. While Jobs looked especially gaunt in his trademark black turtleneck and faded jeans, other Apple executives spent more time on the stage during his keynote address — a notable move for an executive who typically spends much of his speech rallying the Mac faithful and introducing many products himself,” Poletti reports.
“This created a dilemma of sorts for those of us in the business and technology press, but it is also not the first time his appearance has caused concern. In 2004, Jobs successfully battled pancreatic cancer, and since then, there has been occasional speculation about his health after one of his public appearances,” Poletti reports.
“Jobs’ health is an even more pertinent issue given Apple’s history of being less-than-forthcoming with investors about such matters,” Poletti reports. “Investors did not learn of Jobs’ last bout with cancer until after his surgery. Fortune reported earlier this year that Jobs was diagnosed with a rare but treatable form of pancreatic cancer in 2003 and avoided surgery for nine months while he tried alternative remedies. Apple’s board of directors sat on the news the entire time after consulting with attorneys, who reportedly advised the company that they could remain silent on the issue to investors.”
“Katie Cotton, an Apple spokeswoman, told reporters who inquired that Jobs was hit with a common bug two weeks ago and he’s been on antibiotics, getting better day by day and didn’t want to miss WWDC. ‘That’s all there is to it,’ she told Dow Jones Newswires on Tuesday,” Poletti reports. “We all hope that is the case.”
More in the full article, including side-by-side photos of Jobs from WWDC 2007 vs. WWDC 2008, here.
I too became very concerned about Steve’s health when I watched the Quicktime vid of WWDC 2008.
There’s thin and then there’s too thin; almost emaciated…
Let’s all hope it’s just because he needs more carbs in his diet.
Get well soon, Steve.
It all depends on what you consider is normal for a man. Amongst people who are considerably overweight, he looks thin, but by the standards of those who eat the sort of diet that he does, he looks normal.
This story is one that crops up from time to time and appears to be an excuse to make the stock price unstable. It’s hard to fault the products, so they try to undermine confidence in the man behind the products.
It’s almost like he is the President Of The United States or something. Give the guy a break. I feel like crap once in a while, and look it too.
The boy didn’t look well at all. It was the first thing I noticed when he walked on stage. The only time I’ve seen people lose so much weight is when they had some sort of serious medical condition. I like Steve Jobs, I really hope he’s alright.
There’s something going on with his health, you can’t lose that much weight just on a bug.
Hopefully this is not the end… even though a tragic one will make this genius even more legendary.
Anyone who watched the keynote or looks at the pictures of Steve on stage can see how thin and frail he really looks. While the people at Apple say he was “a little under the weather” it seems to me that there maybe something else going on. To put my “wants” for Apple products on hold for now I want Steve to get well and get healthy. While I do believe he has an ego he has done more to turn around Apple and stand the communications industry on its head than anyone. He is a man of vision and passion but sometimes you need time to do nothing and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
I admire Steve a lot even though I don’t agree with the way he intimidates his employees. Before his return to Apple the company had become the laughing stock of the industry and the stock was more valuable as napkins than in a portfolio. He has been portrayed as having a huge ego and demanding more and more for the people who work for him but I believe very few people could have done what he did at Apple.
He transformed the music business and caught all the electronics companies with their knickers down. He has taken the Mac platform to be the industry standard in the computer business and has Apple making money hand over fist. Yes the routing of the jeans and black mock tee is getting tired but then when you deliver like he has you can wear whatever you want.
Passionate people can burn out as their passion drives them and I don’t want that to happen to Steve. I hope and believe that he needs to take some time off, a month or two, so that he can relax and enjoy the impact he has had on consumers. This would also be a great opportunity to start training his successor to see if he, or she, can lead with the same passion that Steve has.
The people on Wall Street will be looking at Jobs health as an asset that could make the stock go down or up…I look at Steve as a person who may be really sick whom I admire and want around for a long long time to come. Please Steve get well we want lots more Apple stuff in years to come !
I think he is just thin. I don’t believe he has any serious health problems. If he did, it’s his private affairs. We don’t have a right to know, unless he wants to tell us, and if he was ill, and it will effect his running of Apple, I’m sure he would resign as CEO, because he loves Apple, and wants it to succeed. He wouldn’t want his illness to keep Apple back.
If he is seriously ill, I feel for him, and his family.
I really don’t get all this talk about Mr. Jobs being ill. I’m a thin man, I look thin, I’d say i was about the same build as Mr. Jobs. But I’m not ill, I just eat healthily and work out a lot. Plus, hasn’t Steve ALWAYS been ‘average’. He’s also in his 50s, so age is catching up with him (luckily I’m only 30, 2 more decades before I’m his age).
I think this is a lot of hot air about nothing. Apple have already said he has had a bug, plus he’s been traveling all around the world signing deals to get the iPhone launched.
I think he looks great. Lean and mean – just like OS X!
By ‘average’, I mean his build.
In no way am I insinuating Mr. Jobs is Joe Average!
I’m sorry, all you have to do is look at the before and after shots of Steve Job and you can see he’s lost a lot of weight.
I am concerned about Steve, but this woman has historically been an idiot when writing about Apple. She uses the same basless information and tired generalizations about Apple that any writer who fails to do any research uses when writing about Apple.
“I think he is just thin. I don’t believe he has any serious health problems.”
I disagree, there is serious health concern with Steve Jobs. The guy not only looked thinner thant thin, but also wasn’t as energetic as usually… It looks serious my friend.
Mac+
It will be a sad day when Steve Jobs is no more. He is the greatest innovator of our era. I hope he is ok…he does look a tad thin.
So what do you frigtards want? Would it make you feel better if ol’ Stevie boy porks out and gets a beer belly? Or, maybe you would feel comforted if he turned into a fat ass like Ballmer. Now, there’s a REAL man! (Until he keels over from the big one, that is.)
Puleeze. Don’t play into this, you chowderheads. Don’t you realize this story is being pushed by hedge funds trying to short Apple stock? You’re being played, people. Be smarter than that.
Consider this: to close deals in the past few months with major telcos so that Apple could penetrate 70 countries with the iPhone, it involved a ton of travel by a certain CEO. I know from experience that this can be grueling. Getting the iPhone ready for market has to be stressful. And consider Steve’s diet – not much fat there. But given how most of us never met a fast food drive-thru lane we didn’t like, in our supersize-me view of the world, Steve looks like he’s dying.
Truth be told, he’s not.
Other posters who have actually MET Steve and worked with him recently said he’s got a ton of energy. Perhaps that comes from being lean, not a fat pig like a certain monkeyboy who shall remain nameless.
When will you guys leave this story alone and move on to something else ridiculous to obsess about? There’s nothing to see here, folks. Move along. Please.
If you’re a man, in your 50s, in a management position, and you want to be taken seriously by teams where you’re older than everyone else, you’ve got to be thin. If you look like a puffy, out-of-touch baby boomer, nobody will listen to you.
have you looked at the other people that went up on stage? Most of them looked like they could use a sandwich or two themselves.
Also im not liking this large talk about him being sick its making my stock drop like a sack of potatoes and no one knows the truth. Hopefully Steve will come out and say everything is fine so we can all relax a bit. Though with the huge drop since keynote and up until now, looks like a good time to get some money ready to buy more stocks right before that iphone comes out.
my 2 cents
@ Jamie – plus he’s been traveling all around the world signing deals to get the iPhone launched.
Did he actually go to all countries, and be there for the deal himself? I know he is the CEO, and he wants to make sure things go right, but that seems a bit much to me.
@ Mac+ – I disagree, there is serious health concern with Steve Jobs. The guy not only looked thinner thant thin, but also wasn’t as energetic as usually… It looks serious my friend.
Those presentation looked very complex, and maybe he thought it be best that people who had more hands on experience, would be better to present those sections of the keynote?
Also, he can’t do the whole keynotes on his own forever. When he does finally leave Apple, the stock would simply crash, as most people think Apple would crumble to the ground without Steve jobs. He has to get that image out there, that Apple is more than Steve Jobs, and Apple will continue to grow, even when He isn’t there anymore.
I watched the Key note.
I looked up Steves age, 53.
I looked at the pics of him from Macworld introducing the MacBook Air.
Conclusion: he is the same weight now as he was then – but he has SHAVED off that grey beard.
Seriously, look at this pic:
There is nothing wrong with Steve except for the virus, and there are some nasty flu’s going around this Spring/Summer.
OK, but the bottom line is this: Who, besides SJ has a say in product and /or style decisions? Does anybody really know? Forget the CULT of Steve Jobs.
This is huge. This is the most important question we need to know about Apple. It’s ABSOLUTELY NOT whether Apple will sell 10m IPhones this year, or when 10.6 comes out.
Most of us have an emotional attachment to Apple, but it would be absolutely outrageous Apple doesn’t have a plan of secession in place.
Any company of any size that doesn’t take the mortality of the CEO/guiding light into consideration in planning the future is asking for trouble.
“Don’t you realize this story is being pushed by hedge funds trying to short Apple stock?”
Oh yeah, now we’re back again with those big conspiration theories… total lack of objectivity from you part.
“he’s got a ton of energy.”
Please, take another look at the keynote, and see for yourself the lack of energy… it’ll help you get rid of your lack of objectivity.
He’s dying and stockholders need to be told.
Steve seemed to have good energy in the keynote. His health seemed good to me. He is very slim, but, if intentional and well controlled that can be good. It is the thin people who live to a ripe old age. There are studies that show nearly starving yourself adds years to one’s life. It is Phil Schiller who has a health problem. He is fat. He could drop dead any day now!
Don’t you think if Steve really was ill there would be rumors from those who know him and see him on a daily basis? I think there would be. I hope and I think he is well.
To Wall Street insiders this is a great opportunity to drive the stock down a bit before the G3 phone starts selling and earnings numbers are released which push the price back up. They like nothing better than to move a stock down when they are pretty sure it will come back up. Buy low. Sell high. Easy money.
He looks like an Auschwitz survivor.
The stock is being heavily shorted today which is why the stock price is being beaten like a red-headed step child. This is just the beginning, folks, of the big downturn.
Best wishes, Stevie.
Get the Keynote podcasts. Listen to his voice and watch his mannerisms then and now. No doubt he’s hurting, in some way or another.
Just because he doesn’t weigh 340lbs and eats a BigMac for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day of the week, doesn’t mean he’s unhealthy.
Anyone who lives on fish and vegetables will be a little bit thinner
Wow! I just checked out the MacWorld video against WWDC, Steve seems to have lost all his muscles. That’s not normal. I bet he hasn’t been able to eat meat (or anything heavy) for the last 6 months, because, he just doesn’t have enough enzymes in his intestines to break down anything except rice porridge. That is what pancreas problem would do.
I believe this is all just so much FUD spewing. (Eeww. . .)
Steve’s demeanor and his command of the stage demonstrated to me that he’s just fine.
Demon wrote in this forum the other day when this subject came up, that the explanation is mainly about the effects of globe-trotting, world travel. Apparently Steve has been traveling to many of those 70 countries slated for iPhone service. — He’s a real marathon man!
(I traveled for two weeks in Japan, close to the ground and at the speed of light, just to take it all in. I lost nearly 20 pounds in those two weeks, and I have a slim build similar to Steve. I’m just sayin’.)
So back off everybody and give the man some air, and let him breath for criss-sakes!
(thank you.)
Don’t Pass the Koolaid is having a big downturn.
Our condolences.
The comparison photographs aren’t comparative. Smiling broadens the face (try it) also the lighting on the ‘sick’ picture creates more of a shadow on the neck.
Watch Phil Schiller in the keynote, he doesn’t look healthy. Also he breathed badly and had not the demeanor of a well man, humor was off-base and he could not raise a real smile himself, he was generally uncoordinated.
Watch how Steve moves, movement carries so much more information than a static picture.
People have been eating foods to make them good industrial workers for many decades which is partly the reason for larger bodies being the norm, now that many people mostly sit down to work but continue with energy filled diets obesity has become a problem. Best way to avoid it is eat the foods best suited to your lifestyle, it looks like that’s what Steve is doing. Most old people are quite skinny, it’s not because growing older makes you thin, it’s because the fat ones die first or don’t get out so much because it’s too much effort to move.
See my namesake in the movies, a powerful man, is he thin? Thin, skinny are pejorative words anyways, try saying slender.
Steve Jobs successor is Jonathon Ives, he’s skinny too, better knock the stock price down a bit more.
I will say again: What is the secession plan for Apple? Anyone, private or public, that owns stock, or loves Apple, needs to know this NOW.
Marlon Brando lived to be 80 and he was huge fat fsck. Spare me the skinny is good bullshit.
One more thing.
I’ve been told many times in my life often by complete strangers that I should eat more, I let it pass. One time someone objected that it was difficult for them to get in to their car due to mine being too close (although within the parking bay line), I suggested that they eat less food. All hell broke loose, her partner turned up from home and threatened to beat me up (so the store manager told me), on exit I was accosted by six security and management staff. The manager threatened to ban me until I sorted them all out (verbally that is), someone from head office was there too, he apologised.
@Don’t Pass the Koolaid
Everyone is dying, that statement is just empty. What matters is when.
This article at Apple Gazzette has a couple of screen shots one from 2007 one 2008, it doesn’t look good to me
Hope he is o.k.
http://www.applegazette.com/steve-jobs/the-dramatic-weight-loss-of-steve-jobs/
I think the best thing for Steve right now is to take care of himself. Leave the next best person is charge and take some time off. Maybe just a month even. No business calls for 30 days. Go to Hawaii and get some R&R;. I think the stock holders would rather see that than letting everyone speculate and start spreading rumors.
You’ve got nothing without your health. Play it smart.
-Best wishes Steve!
I think it is safe to say everyone here wishes SJ all the best. I think his specific health condition cannot be diagnosed from keynote photos taken year-over-year. I would suggest only SJ and his physician are really in a position to say how his general health is doing. Given the propensity for Americans to keep getting fatter these days no wonder everyone is in a tizzy thinking he must be ill because he has lost weight. I think for a cancer survivor in his 50s who works the kind of schedule SJ does he looks pretty damn good. If there is something else at play here then SJ will reveal it on his own time. Till then let’s move on.
“In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.”
Ben Franklin (17 January 1706 – 17 April 1790)
Got Afib you are a loser. what does that have to relate to this article??????????? Go back under a rock
To anyone observant enough, it is obvious there is something very wrong with SJ. Even the keynote is not up to its usual quality. Sure, many of you are not going to believe it and will take issue but I am sure there are many others like me who noticed this keynote is just not up to the usual standards, nor was SJ’s energy level (and I might even add mental level).
An observant analyst.
I wonder if everyone will switch to mac os when he dies.. ?
or if apple will release osx for standard PCs ??
sorry, morbid I know… adds a whole new meaning to the term “halo effect”
live long and prosper Steve.
Blodget is one of those guys pushing this BS. He builds the stock up so people buy and then passes out BS after he’s shorted the stock. It’s the same crap that he pulled during the internet bubble.