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'And the third piece of information - that Mr Jobs is taking a leave of absence - caught everyone on the back foot.'

Really? If I'm ill and need treatment, even if its just resting up for a while - I take time off work. This comes as a surprise? Doh!
(Most people would take time off in such circumstances; I've even sent staff home if I think they're ill and need recovery time.)

Jobs has a wife, family and friends all of whom will have been telling him for ages that he should rest up for a while (he is a workaholic, which takes its own toll), that Apple can continue without him for a while - and it looks like he's listened.
Jittery shareholders, so what's new there?

Get well soon Steve.

'And the third piece of information - that Mr Jobs is taking a leave of absence - caught everyone on the back foot.'

As with the above - really?

However not for the reasons of the poster above, though they are as accurate as ever.

This is actually a typical Steve Jobs "Reality Distortion Field" in effect. The statement about the interest in his health was made shortly before the MacWorld Expo and then the condition became more problematic after it? No, this was known a lot earlier and the first announcement was made to excuse the non-appearance, and the second was made a few days after the Expo was finished so as not to interfere with the reporting of the Apple keynote. A Keynote that is widely regarded as one of the dullest yet! These announcements are nothing more than a spin job.

To think Steve Jobs has taken this decision lightly, or on his own is a foolish one. Here is hoping his health can recover and that he is able to get over his problems and back on the road to recovery, however I personally doubt he will ever be in charge at Apple again.

Apple is a monster company and Steve Jobs is a figurehead. No company, Board of Directors, or shareholders want one person personifying the company the way Steve Jobs has done over the years. They want to move on, create a new era and celebrate Jobs for what he has done while at the same time quietly replacing him with a team of people.

Here is hoping for a full recovery, and the ongoing success of Apple, either with or without him.

Whatever the medical issue, it's obvious that the stress of running a company of Apple's size (especially for someone so 'hands on') is not going to help in his recovery. So yeah, I'm sure a shareholder lawsuit is exactly what he needs right now.

The 'hormonal imbalance' coupled with the information that it's preventing take-up of nutrition (or words to that effect) sounds like Crohn's Disease, sadly. If so, it's very rough, as a know from a friend who suffers from it; but it is manageable under most circumstances. But it's absolutely true that a shareholder legal action would add totally unnecessary - and unwarranted - stress, since it's on very shaky legal ground anyway. Where's the barrier between fiduciary and personal disclosures?

Get well soon Steve, we all owe Steve a debt of gratitude for being a driving force for putting usable technology into the hands of the people. Quite right that people should be jittery over his health, who is there to push the developers of tomorrows technology. At least the design area is in good hands with Ives but who is there to push the technology development team. Steve used to give them a task and they dare not rest until they had accomplished it. just read about the time the first Mac OS was being developed and how he bullied the team into reducing its boot speed just before the Mac was launched.

Apple is a company with influence far greater than its customer base, it learned from its mistakes with the Mac and has made sure this was not repeated with the iPod and iPhone. That is all down to Mr Jobs, I hope that his successor will not take the company backwards.

Oh, for goodness' sake! It's not like he does absolutely everything himself! Sure, he built Apple, and has been a driving force, but to imply that the company will sink without his leadership (as this fevered speculation seems to do) is just ridiculous. Apple make the best computers and OS available, and I'm sure they'll continue to do so long into the future.

Actually, confusedclapham, it sounds much more like Addison's disease. I wasn't aware that there was an hormonal element in Crohn's disease.

Whatever it is I wish him, as I would anyone dealing with an illness. a speedy recovery.

Maybe this is the moment where Mr Jobs, and a lot of other people, realise that NO ONE is indispensible!

@Graphis, no he doesn't do everything himself, but he does personally direct and approve everything that Apple does according to his vision, ensuring a focused and controlled organisation and a consistant integarted product range.

While Apple would survive without him it would be no-where near as effective a company. We'd probably see product range bloat where the user experience is a lot less smooth. On the other hand, we'd probably see less lock-in which would be a good thing.

Maggie:

First--My sincerest wishes for a full recovery to Steve Jobs and his eventual return to APPLE....

Second--The fallout, my be not that much at first; if, he does not return then the fallout could be a large amount of problems...

~Dennis Junior~

Maggie:

[Google has announcements about cutting jobs concerning 100 recruiters, closing some engineering offices and axing a range of products. Microsoft is also exploring job cuts.]

Disclosure: I do have a email accounts with GMAIL....

I think it is due to the slowing down in the economy, that Google is cutting staff.....

~Dennis Junior~

Sory to seem blase about this and I do with Steve the best of health and a full recovary. But if he doesn't ever return then so what? Larger companies than Apple have lost larger personalities than Steve Jobs and survived quite happily.

I'm sure that Apple have a full range of options available to them as part of a succession plan for the day that Steve decies to hang up his hat and for investors to think aything other than this would surely say a lot more about the type of morons who have bought Apple shares than about Apple itself.

The fact is that Apple spent a long time in the wilderness during the 90s, and this period coincided with Jobs' absence from the company. At the point that he was persuaded to return, Apple was close to bankruptcy. Since then, it's been all up. So the perceived association between his and the company's health is quite natural, and not surprising. I'm sure the company would survive without him, but even I feel it might lose the single-minded focus he has brought.