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Steve Jobs Health Worries Escalate

Posted by timothy on from the hope-he's-got-more-tricks-up-his-sleeve dept.

PolygamousRanchKid writes with this sad snippet from the San Francisco Chronicle: "We all know that Steve Jobs is sick. What's not known is how sick he is, and that's worrying investors of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) this morning, as well as everyone else. Jobs did have pancreatic cancer a few years ago, but he had a transplant and was able to come back to work. Last time, he gave some kind of time frame for returning to work. This time, he did not. Supposedly the National Enquirer is set to run pictures of Jobs with him looking frail and gaunt. Jobs was spotted leaving the Stanford Cancer Center in Palo Alto, California, according to RadarOnline.com."

11 of 520 comments (clear)

  1. who cares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    who cares? let the man live his own life

    1. Re:who cares by Tanktalus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm not sure why this is marked troll. Seriously, let's keep peoples' private lives private, and only publicise public aspects of their lives.

    2. Re:who cares by amicusNYCL · · Score: 4, Insightful

      who cares?

      The shareholders of his publicly-traded personality cult care.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    3. Re:who cares by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because unlike with other CxOs Steve Jobs has purposely built a cult of personality around him that will seriously affect the stock. A good example of the difference is MSFT, where if you ask the average Joe they still think Gates runs the thing. If Ballmer was hit by a car tomorrow nobody outside the tech world would take much notice and it is doubtful that the stock would take a nosedive.

      Now compare that to Jobs where we HAVE seen the stock take a serious hit just from a phony death rumor. IMHO Steve Jobs has failed Apple by not pushing a successor the second he came back from the transplant. he should have been grooming his successor from day one and pushing them beside him in the spotlight wherever possible. instead you have had Steve take front and center (typical narcissist behavior) the SECOND he was able to get back to work and all talks about successors went the way of the Newton.

      So honestly Steve deserves no privacy because he brought it upon himself by making himself the center of the Apple universe and not doing anything to stop the "cult of Steve" hell if anything he pumped it up. So just like any other business where rightly or wrongly success if believed to hinge on a key component or player, so too does Steve's health affect the bottom line and the shareholders have a right to know. If Steve didn't want it to be this way he could have been sharing the spotlight and grooming his replacement, but I guess Steve doesn't do well with sharing.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    4. Re:who cares by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The iPhone revolutionized the phone business. The iPad revolutionized the tablet market. You may or may not like them as products, but that much is incontrovertibly true.

  2. Re:Leave Steve Jobs Alone by MooseMuffin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously, leave him alone. Even more so if he's actually dying.

  3. Stock by scubamage · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Man, i may dump my savings into apple stock once it bottoms out after his death. There's going to be a massive unloading, we all know it.

  4. Re:He's probably dying by Pieroxy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Can't we just leave him alone? I mean, when he bashes on Google openly, let the press and everyone else fire full power. It's fair game.

    But now? Doesn't he deserve some privacy or even just some respect? Not because of what he's done, be because of what he is living right now.

    --
    Write boring code, not shiny code!
  5. Consider the Source by SavoWood · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When the pictures come from The National Enquirer, you really need to consider the source. Also, the doctor making this prognosis was doing so based on the pictures. Didn't we all jump on the idiot in Congress a few years ago for diagnosing that woman in Florida using a short video clip?

    Let's take this to a conspiracy level and say people are putting out this news to get the stock price to drop a bit so they can snap it up and wait for the retraction of the article and the stock goes back up, they make a pretty penny.

    --
    Plant a tree in a developing country.
  6. Re:Seriously don't care... by blair1q · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Woz was the technical genius who put the parts together to make the new product simple enough to be useful to millions.

    Jobs is the one who ensured millions understood why it was useful.

    History is littered with people who thought you could be Apple by skimping on either of those talents.

  7. Re:You present the Apple Hater meme, not reality. by kaffiene · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I understand what the word means. I used it precisely because of it's meaning.

    I'm referring to the Job's role in maintaining the Apple cult. The view that there's one way to do it - Apple's way and no other. It is a totalitarian ideology. It permits no criticism and the cult members leap in to defend the cult against all opposing points of view.

    That's a fascist world view.

    As someone with a degree in Philosophy who has studied Politicial Science, I know perfectly well what the word 'fascist' means.

    I like the way you try to define opposing views as not worthy of comment rather than thinking about them. Good little cult member.