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Jun 10, 08 - 10:59 am Comment from: TowerTone

His torso looks way too long in that shot, like it was either enhanced or his pants be saggin'.

He does not look healthy.

Only in the USA would being thin be considered sick.

Jun 10, 08 - 11:04 am Comment from: critic

"He does not look healthy."

Most strict vegetarians don't.

Given the form of cancer he was diagnosed with (pancreatic), his survival from 2003 to 2008 is nothing short of remarkable. Pancreatic cancer is known to devastate it's victims and those diagnosed with it rarely survive longer than 6 months to a year.
Should he be suffering a relapse it is doubtful he would be healthy enough to even consider appearing on stage.

Jun 10, 08 - 11:09 am Comment from: Brian Allen

@ Anim8me2

Pancreatic cancer comes in any forms, but Apple indicated that Steve Jobs did not have incurable form.

You are very correct about the incurable form.

I had a big lead guitar performance last year and dropped 10 lbs, both muscle and fat over the stress of learning all those parts and the buildup for the concert. The stress snuck up on me and I didn't realize it until afterwards when I saw the video.
Just imagine the pressure Steve Jobs has to produce every single time? Let's not mention the stress of staying on top with Pixar. He is also not getting any younger. His thinness doesn't bother me, his lack of muscle tone does, though. I would hire a personal trainer and eat more protein/carbs/good fats while lightly working out.

Jun 10, 08 - 11:11 am Comment from: Ray

In 20 years when he finally does die. These idiots are going to say "See I told you so!"

just my $0.02

Jun 10, 08 - 11:12 am Comment from: cptnkirk

"imperiously" !!??!! I think the writer means 'perilously'. "imperiously" meas in an authoritative manner.

I too thought he looks thin but was convinced by the usual RDF that he was fine.

Jun 10, 08 - 11:13 am Comment from: NCIceman

I too thought he looked awfully thin.

As for disclosure, which right is greater, HIPAA or SEC/FTC? Tough call...

People said the same thing after the MacWorld keynote. Has anybody compared the videos? lol I see plenty of people in the street, or the mall, or the book store every day that look exactly like that. Don't forget, the man IS in his 50's. And it's not as if he USED to weigh 300 lbs.

Jun 10, 08 - 11:14 am Comment from: AshNazg

Personally, I really hope the man is OK. He is such an asset to this world, truly. After seeing him yesterday, he'll be in my prayers, for sure.

My folks are vegan (except they eat fish maybe once a month) and don't look nearly that thin. They did loose a lot of weight after going vegan but they stopped after they achieved a healthy weight, which, I must say, looks at least 25 lbs. heaver than Steve.

Hope the man is OK.

We'd all rather he look like Rob Glaser? Please people ... That guy has far greater a chance of immediate heart failure than Jobs has of anything.

He's just getting older. Haven't you noticed how skinny old men are?

It should be pointed out that cancer doesn't make you thin. Cancer TREATMENT makes you thin. And if Steve were really undergoing cancer treatment, there's no way in hell he would have been healthy enough to give a WWDC keynote.

Jun 10, 08 - 11:17 am Comment from: TowerTone

gow
Really? Not Ethiopia or Sudan? Just in the US? Really?
I bet they are getting thin in Burma.
And happy about it....

Ah, yes. Henry Blodget, the man who brought us the dot-bomb crash, a former stock market analyst who got busted for lying and for having massive conflicts of interest. A man who it turned out had no clue about the investments he was touting, who somehow escaped getting a long stay in a federal penitentiary. That Henry Blodget, who has no surfaced as the editor of the venerable, highly esteemed Silicon Alley Insider, the same wonderful publication that brought you Sarah (I-am-a-complete-dimbulb-but-I-get-by-because-I-have-huge-cha cha bingos) Lacey.

Why does ANYONE take these idiots seriously? They are so rife with conflicts of interest (can anyone say, "FUD attack pushed by large hedge funds desperately trying to short Apple stock by paying off jerks like Blodget, Cramer, Drudge, et al to push their lies?). Truth be told, Steve Jobs is a vegan, and is on a low fat diet. Compared to the rest of us fat couch potatoes, he might look skinny. But as another poster so poignantly observed, in other parts of the world he would be considered normal

What a crock. And this passes for news?

I have a friend that recently started running and doing triathalons. He looks this skinny and is perfectly healthy.

Skinny != sick.

@ critic:

Or perhaps you know a couple people who are vegetarian and don't look healthy so you assume everyone who's vegetarian must be unhealthy too. I just walked by a homeless man talking to himself and smelling of alcohol. That must mean most homeless people are crazy and drunks, right?

I know lots of people who have been vegan (strictly vegetarian) for most of there lives. Some look extremely healthy, some are bit overweight, and some look way too thin. I know lots of people who have eaten "meat and potatoes" everyday for most of their lives. Some look extremely healthy, some are overweight, and some look way too thin.

Don't make assumptions about people based on what they eat.

Jun 10, 08 - 11:24 am Comment from: MacRaven

Ballmer could stand to lose more than a few pounds.

It just won't be fair to the world if Steve leaves us, and we're stuck with Gates and Ballmer. If a God exists with any mercy.....please, please.

I also remarked his voice was weak and he left a lot of the presentation to others. I hope he is OK but respect his privacy.

Henry Blodget is one SICK SICK bastard.

Jobs works harder than anyone, and this idiot calls it cancer?

I'd punch him in the face if I meet blodget.

Jun 10, 08 - 11:29 am Comment from: iWill

Lance Armstrong looked thin when he won his 7th Tour de France. And that was after Cancer.

Why no concern over Ballmer's bloated body?

If Steve had danced the developer's jig like Monkey-Boy, would that have changed anything?

("developers, developers - developers, developers - c'mon everybody!!)

"...but we know such a statement would make some of concerned Apple and Steve fans feel better,"

And of course making people feel better is the #1 job of all multi-national corporations.....give me a break!

Jun 10, 08 - 11:37 am Comment from: Buster

Guys...pancreatic cancer is deadly and a very rapid killer. However, Steve lucked out and had a curable kind, not the deady kind. If it had recurred, he would be more than thin....he would be room temperature by now.

Doanworriboutdit.

Ain't gonna speculate. Best wishes to you, Stevie.

He looks thin, perhaps too thin, but I wouldn't say he looks sick.

Jun 10, 08 - 11:44 am Comment from: JadisOne

I thought it was just me who thought Jobs looked a little light in the britches. I see others were concerned as well. That man can't die, I need him to keep pushing his vision on his team to create even more great things.

Jun 10, 08 - 11:45 am Comment from: HMCIV

Disappointed pundits need SOME way to drive the stock price down. Will someone please give Steve a sandwich.

I lost my Dad to cancer a year and a half ago. Steve looks remarkably similar to my dad while he was going thru chemo as far as his weight is concerned. Simply from a view of concern for another human being, Steve does not look healthy. I sincerely hope SJ is in good health.

how tall is Steve?
at 5-10", the bmi index of a normal adult will result in a weight range of: approx 130 to 170 lbs with the high end being approx 30% more than the low range

wide range

Jun 10, 08 - 11:48 am Comment from: Harvey

It looks like cachexia to me. I've known two people who've had it, and I have witnessed its progression.

Cachexia is the name of a symptom in which a person wastes away. The body gradually loses its ability to absorb nutrients from food, so it consumes itself: body fat and then muscle--remember, the esophagus and the heart are muscles. When my father developed it, they tested him for every sort of cancer they could think of, because it is a symptom of cancer. However, in his case, it has a different cause.

My father has difficulty swallowing, and he is becoming weaker and weaker. He has difficulty standing and walking, and he can no longer lift his own body weight. (There are feathers that weigh more than him.) If he falls, he can't get up. Just carrying a five-pound bag of sugar is an athletic feat for him. He now looks like a skeleton with skin. I don't know how much longer he will remain ambulatory.

The next step could be organ failure.

I knew one other person who had cachexia as a part of post-polio syndrome. He eventually died because he didn't have the strength to breathe. There was no mental impairment at all, and my father's mind is still sharp enough to draw blood.

As I say, this looks like cachexia. Steve looks just like my father did a few months ago. It doesn't mean he has cancer. It could be the consequence of something he had earlier in his life. I think this is why Steve has talked about his successors, and why he acted as an emcee more than a presenter at this WWDC.

Pardon me while I get horribly sad.

Jun 10, 08 - 11:49 am Comment from: IKON

the macbook air is extremely thin too.

Jun 10, 08 - 11:51 am Comment from: Harvey

Short version: Steve is starving to death, and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

People, people, Jobs is not a vegetarian!
From Wiki:
"Jobs is not a vegetarian or vegan as is often claimed. Although he does not eat mammalian meat or fowl, he eats fish from time to time. This is known as pescetarianism.[39]"
Personally, I think he could use some good 'ol Alberta AAA beef.

I know that this is hard for us Apple fanatics to accept, but Steve's health is his own concern and not ours. He doesn't have to disclose anything to anyone at any time, period. If I had as many wierdo's like us constantly commenting on my weight gain or loss, general health, etc, I probably wouldn't be too generous on details either. But the fact remains: health issues are a totally private concern between his doctor and himself.

Regardless of what will happen to Steve jobs in the short or long term, we have to accept another thing: Apple WILL continue after Steve. The faster that we all come to accept the mortality of Steve and ourselves, the faster that we'll accept this basic fact.

We could remain in denial, and believe that Steve is builidng the supercomputer of the future so that he can implant his sole into it, and we'll all call walk around and him "Landrew", but I just don't think so.

Now that I think about it, many people in the northern rural regions of the United States as well as through Europe are also quite thin. It's a difference of lifestyle that doesn't necessarily mean that he's got any kind of dangerous ailment. Also, somebody on Valleywag's comment board rightfully posted that if CANCER had done that to him, then he wouldn't be on stage talking and walking around. He'd be dead or close to it. That said, I think he's lost a lot of the strong, aggressive authority that came with his physical stature--this is a real business phenomenon--and I wonder if any of it had to do with iPhone's now-deadened special treatment from AT&T;. For example, some of my friends watching the keynote with me yesterday called him "nerdy," or "wimpy," whereas the Steve of two or three years ago would command quite a different aura.

Jun 10, 08 - 12:00 pm Comment from: Demon

Three weeks ago at a meeting I had with Apple, Steve looked a little thin but he was full of energy and acted fine. It's not uncommon for Steve to drop a few pounds when he's been traveling a lot, which he's done a lot of over the past few months. Because Steve keeps such a rigid diet, when he travels he does not eat as he should, as it's often impossible for him to match his diet with the locally available food stuffs. So, instead of comprising his diet he just does not eat. Steve's weight loss should not be a surprise to anyone that has looked at how much and to how many different countries in the past few months that he's been to. Now that the iPhone, carrier and distribution deals have been done for most countries (all the major markets anyway) he'll start slowly gaining the 2 or 3 pounds back that he's lost.

Jun 10, 08 - 12:00 pm Comment from: January 24, 1984

I lost 50 lbs. last year by exercising every day, and eating mostly "live" food. I was surprised at how many people asked if I was "alright?"

In the age of 30+ BMIs, being at the low end of the acceptable BMI scale (near 21) seems to many emaciated. To me it feels great.

You know what they say, "If you want to appear skinny, hang out with fat people."

AMERICANS!

YOU ARE ALL NUTS!!!

Are you all so fat and obese that your entire perception of the human body has shifted so dramatically as a result?

Steve Jobs is thin - Yes he is even very thin!

So what!... Thinness is NOT an indicator of sickness, gringo morons!

Steve Jobs looks thin AND good, and if anything, he is unlikely to drop dead from heart failure anytime soon. And for all the speculative McJoe's out there, please remember that thin people live longer (about 20 years longer) than overweight blubber infested Americanos.

You seem to have a national case of body dysmorphia going on there!

@Harvey,
Cachexia is a latin word to describe someone who is extremely thin-- yes, in and of itself can describe a wasting process. You can describe someone as being cachectic in appearance. There are a vast array of medical issues that can include wasting of soft tissue. Anorexia or complications from HIV anyone? Using your radar diagnosis, I'll send you a picture of my toe and you can diagnosis me too.

Jun 10, 08 - 12:06 pm Comment from: LinuxGuyAndMacProdigalSon

I wish SJ would opt for surgery, instead of his touchy feely hippie like approach. His 1% pancreatic cancer cell type is readily cured by surgery, and he is–IMHO– foolish not to go for it.

I know a lot about the subject. I have pancreatic cancer, the nasty kind. But mine was discovered before stage 4, so it was a primary only tumor, not metastatic. My oncologists are shocked that the disease has not spread for ten months now. I'd rather not go into more detail, but I actually have a significant chance of survival, unlike the stage 4 victims of this awful disease. But the pain is excruciating, even in my case.

Come on Steve, take the cure. Don't allow yourself to die. APPL will sink like a lead weight in the ocean if that happens.

@ Gone Nuts
While I agree with you that everyone should have their privacy, as the CEO of a major multinational corporation he has a responsibility to share with his stock-holders his current health.

Jun 10, 08 - 12:13 pm Comment from: iamdj

European John Doe:

We Americans are upside down when it comes to body image. I agree.

I can't comment about all forms of cancer, or all forms of cancer treatment, but from my experience (my girlfriend had leukemia), cancer patients tend to be a bit chubby, not thin. At least in her case, as well as most of the patients I noticed at the hospital, they all experienced weight gain due to the steroids they were given to help boost their white blood cell count. The chemo they were given pretty much devastated the immune system, thus the need for steroids to help build it back up. The combination of steroids, and a lack of activity from lying in a bed all day, resulted in very noticeable weight gain, in some cases, as much as 30 or 40 pounds.

Of course, like I said, I don't know how pancreatic cancer is treated. I don't know if there are any similarities with how leukemia is treated.

Jun 10, 08 - 12:17 pm Comment from: January 24, 1984

I thought Scott Forstall did a great job...even had a touch of wryness that spoke of reserve, and class.

Better than Phil's "just under the surface" rumblings of something like chastened hostility.

Jun 10, 08 - 12:21 pm Comment from: Harvey

@ Apple Cider

I don't think your taunt or attempt at humor is appropriate. I live with this 24 hours a day. I know what it looks like.

@LinuxGuyAndMacProdigalSon
i wish you all the best. i hope everything will be alright soon.

steve jobs had the surgery in september 2004 (if i remember it correct) after considering alternatives.

Jun 10, 08 - 12:27 pm Comment from: Tommyr

We go through this EVERY freakin' year. "Steve looks sick". Christ people leave the guy alone!

@ Harvey: I'm not attempting to belittle your condition, merely underscoring the fact that one can not make medical diagnoses simply based on a rather "thin" looking appearance.

@LinuxGuy...: Again, from Wiki: "After initially resisting the idea of conventional medical intervention and embarking on a special diet to thwart the disease, July 31, 2004 Jobs underwent surgery that successfully removed the tumor."

Steve Jobs had surgery for cancer in 2004. In an E-mail message to employees during this period, he said he had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his pancreas but expects a full recovery.