Apple's Response to Jobs Health Rumors Not Reassuring

Bash tech website Gizmodo all you want for publishing the anonymously sourced "rumor" that Apple CEO Steve Jobs's health is deteriorating. But keep in mind two things:

1) This rumor hardly surfaced in a vacuum. Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer five years ago. His appearance in the past year could charitably be described as gaunt. Also, Apple announced earlier this month that a) Jobs would not be delivering this year's Macworld keynote, and b) Apple no longer will be involved in Macworld.

2) The company has a history of evasiveness concerning information about Jobs's health. Further, its denial of the Gizmodo story is, well, read it for yourself:

A spokesman for Apple declined to comment on the rumor.

When asked about Jobs's health, the spokesman said, "If ever Steve or the board of directors decided that he was no longer capable of doing his job as CEO of Apple, I'm sure they will let you know."

Does any of that sound like a strong, specific denial to you? You could argue that Apple doesn't have a responsibility to respond to unsourced rumors. That's understandable. But its vague response to the Gizmodo story not only does nothing to quell the rumor, it actually fuels it.

It's a tough situation and there are no easy answers. If I were at Apple, I'd probably want to circle the wagons too. But acting indignant about the rumor, as Jim Goldman at CNBC does, won't make it go away. What will is for Jobs to return to the public eye, looking much healthier. That's just the way it is.