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Will Steve Jobs return to Apple?

Desktop wallpaper of a young Steve Jobs
Anthony Sigalas (Sigalakos)
/
Flickr.com
Desktop wallpaper of a young Steve Jobs

Will Steve Jobs be returning to the helm at Apple? This is the CEO's third medical leave. Strategic News Service publisher Mark Anderson tells KPLU's Dave Meyer that Jobs probably isn't coming back this time. Jobs's previous leaves involved very serious conditions (pancreatic cancer, liver transplant) that don't bode well for his return to an active role.

When Steve Jobs resumed control of the company in 1997, Mark Anderson recommended his subscribers buy Apple stock. Today, he's advising them to sell. Apple recently reported its quarterly profits were up 78%. Mark says he expects the company to continue to do well for the next year or two, but eventually Jobs's absence will be felt.

Why is Jobs so important?

Mark says:

"I happen to believe he really is that vital, because I don't see anybody else at Apple or frankly, anywhere in the world, who's as good as Steve at making products."

Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook will be managing Apple during Jobs's medical leave. Mark says he's a brilliant business manager, but not the kind of guy who can come up with products such as the iPhone. According to Mark, "The skills for being COO are radically different from those of being a product visionary."

Dave Meyer has been anchoring KNKX news shows since 1987. He grew up along the shores of Hood Canal near Belfair and graduated from Washington State University with degrees in communications and psychology.
Mark Anderson is the CEO of the Strategic News Service® (SNS), www.stratnews.com. SNS was the first subscription-based newsletter on the Internet, and is read by Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Mark Hurd, and industry leaders and investors in computing and communications worldwide. Mark is the founding chair of the Future in Review® (FiRe) Conference, which the Economist has labeled “the best technology conference in the world,” as well as of SNS Project Inkwell, the first global consortium to address technology design changes for one-to-one computing in classrooms. He is the founder of two software companies, a hedge fund, and the Washington Technology Industry Association “Fast Pitch” investment forum, Washington’s premier technology investment conference.