Apple’s Steve Jobs Takes Medical Leave

Source: Reuters

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is taking a medical leave of absence, a week after revealing that he suffers from a condition he described as a hormone imbalance.

In an e-mail to employees released Wednesday by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Jobs said he was stepping aide temporarily to focus on his condition, which he had earlier said wouldn’t hinder his duties. He also said the move would better ensure that rampant media speculation about his health won’t overshadow Apple’s work.

Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer, will run the company until his return in summer, Jobs said, adding that he will continue to retain the position of CEO during that time.

“During the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought,” Jobs wrote. “In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.”

“As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out,” he added. “I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.”

Rumors surrounding the health of Apple’s most famous employee have continued since Jobs’ July 2004 surgery for pancreatic cancer. They resurfaced following his dramatically thinner appearance at Apple’s 2008 Worldwide Developers Conference.

Further fanning the flames of gossip has been the fact that Apple is widely seen as reluctant to speak openly about Jobs’ health. Industry rumormongers regularly criticize Apple and Jobs for the fact that his cancer had not been disclosed to shareholders until after his surgery, despite a diagnosis months earlier, in October 2003.

Jobs indicated Wednesday that the ongoing buzz around his health had also been a factor in his decision to take a leave of absence.

“I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well.”

This article was first published on InternetNews.com. To read the full article, click here.

RELATED NEWS AND ANALYSIS

• Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  December 04, 2020

• Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Guest Author,
  November 18, 2020

• Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA

  FEATURE |  By Guest Author,
  November 10, 2020

• Top 10 AIOps Companies

  FEATURE |  By Samuel Greengard,
  November 05, 2020

• What is Text Analysis?

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Guest Author,
  November 02, 2020

• How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Rob Enderle,
  October 29, 2020

• Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Rob Enderle,
  October 23, 2020

• The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  October 16, 2020

• Top 10 Chatbot Platforms

  FEATURE |  By Cynthia Harvey,
  October 07, 2020

• Finding a Career Path in AI

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Guest Author,
  October 05, 2020

• CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science

  FEATURE |  By Guest Author,
  September 25, 2020

• Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  September 25, 2020

• Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2020

  FEATURE |  By Cynthia Harvey,
  September 22, 2020

• NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Rob Enderle,
  September 18, 2020

• Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By James Maguire,
  September 14, 2020

• Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By James Maguire,
  September 13, 2020

• IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  September 11, 2020

• Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality

  FEATURE |  By James Maguire,
  September 09, 2020

• Anticipating The Coming Wave Of AI Enhanced PCs

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  September 05, 2020

• The Critical Nature Of IBM’s NLP (Natural Language Processing) Effort

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Rob Enderle,
  August 14, 2020