Has Steve Jobs logged off?
We all know that Steve Jobs is on medical leave. But, does anyone know what he is doing whilst on leave? A new report can be viewed as either good news that Apple’s CEO is finally concentrating on his health or, disturbingly, that he has completely dropped off the radar for reasons most of us would rather not contemplate.
Thereupon, longtime Apple commentator and Cupertino dumpster diver Robert X. Cringely buried this nugget of unwelcome news in a recent column, stating that Steve Jobs isn’t active on iChat, or at the very least isn’t visible to one of his buddies.
A friend of mine has for years been one of Steve Jobs’ Internet chat buddies. And as such his chat client has—again for years—shown as Steve came online each day and remained there for hours and hours as you’d expect a Silicon Valley mogul to do. And it’s a trend that continued well past Jobs’ announcement that he was taking a six-month leave of absence to get well. But then Steve started logging-on less and less. And, several weeks ago he stopped logging-on at all.
So what? Steve sensed this friend of Cringley’s would rat him out to the press and preemptively edited him out of his iChat buddy list. We’ve all expurgated a jerk or two in our time. That doesn’t mean Apple’s über CEO is any more or less ill than he was, right?
With Tim Cook, Phil Schiller et al doing that voodoo that they do and otherwise just keeping the successes coming, I’m not concerned about Apple in the short or even medium term. That’s about two years of good fortune to come by my reckoning.
However, I’ve gotta admit that the prospect of a Steveless Mac and iPhone maker gives me the willies…
What’s your take?
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February 22nd, 2009
My take is simple. Why bother linking to a link about an unsubstaniated rumour? At this point, I am waiting for x17online or TMZ to start covering Jobs as they have more journalistic integrity than most bloggers.
February 22nd, 2009
Call me crazy, but if I were Steve Jobs I’d focus on not dying.
February 22nd, 2009
So your source says he expects Silicone Moguls to regularly spend hours and hours using a chat client online.. Think about that for a minute before you use this source for speculation on Jobs’ health. Crap in, Crap squared out.
Your source, if at all honest, has been fooled by an impostor who’s probably a fired Apple employee.
February 22nd, 2009
So your source says he expects Silicon Valley Moguls to regularly spend hours and hours using a chat client online. Think about that for a minute before you use this source for speculation on Jobs’ health. Crap in, Crap squared out.
February 22nd, 2009
I couldn’t care less about that… I’m already not buying apple products, cause I don’t feel like being under Job’s thumb, on what I can run, how my computer works… he can shove all his non-replaceable batteries and bad lead solder spots he refuses to replace where the sun don’t shine, and spend the rest of his life in a nice resort playing with orchids…
February 22nd, 2009
The report is crap for this reason: it’s IMPOSSIBLE for a guy who runs/ran a company like Apple to log in on iChat for hours and hours on end every day! He wouldn’t be doing any other work!
Why are people such vultures?