“As heartening as it was to hear on May 30 that Jobs would present part of the WWDC’s opening keynote — news that arguably was primarily responsible for a 3 percent jump in share price — Jobs’s gaunt appearance and weak voice were noticeable on Monday,” Chris Nerney reports for ITword.
“Some people, though, were reassured by Jobs’s physical appearance. Cult of Mac Editor and Publisher Leander Kahney writes that ‘Steve Jobs looked pretty healthy’ and that ‘all-in-all, I thought he looked pretty vibrant and energetic on stage,'” Nerney reports. “Kahney asked what readers thought, and nearly all of them disagreed (‘he could barely walk,’ ‘his voice scared me,’ ‘extremely emaciated’). And these are Cult of Mac readers.”
“‘I don’t think the stock reaction is about (Jobs’) health,’ Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in this Huffington Post/AP article. ‘Almost every investor I talk to doesn’t believe he’ll be part of the company in a year or two.’ Harsh, yes, but reasonable and realistic,” Nerney writes.
Full article here.
Michael Liedtke and Marcus Wohlsen report for AP/The Huffington Post, “After his presentation, Jobs talked briefly with Connor Ellison, a 13-year-old boy he met earlier this year at a group that supports organ donations. When Ellison asked Jobs how he was feeling, the Apple CEO said ‘I feel good’ and posed for a picture. Afterward, Ellison said he and Jobs share the same doctor. Ellison also said Jobs had invited him to come down from his home in Folsom, Calif., to attend the event in San Francisco – about a two-hour drive.”
“Jobs didn’t look much different from his March appearance for the iPad 2, said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies and a longtime Apple watcher,” Liedtke and Wohlsen report. “Bajarin downplayed Jobs’ limited time on stage on Monday, saying he ‘almost always’ relies on underlings to handle the bulk of demos at developers’ conferences.”
Liedtke and Wohlsen report, “The stock has declined 3 percent since Jobs announced his latest medical leave Jan. 17. During that time, the technology-driven Nasdaq composite index has fallen 2 percent.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Good health, Mr. Jobs!
I thought he looked that same as last time, but at the beginning of the keynote, he sounded weak and frail.
He sounded much better during the iCloud presentation and seems to have a lot of energy left. You can tell he hasn’t lost any enthusiasm for his work.
But even during iCloud presentation his voice was weaker and shaky at times, what never happened before and certainly not during March event.
The fact that such progress has been made on the operating systems (Mac OS & iOS) with minimal input from Jobs, as well as development on iCloud, shows that whatever the future holds for Jobs, Apple will be just fine. No one lives forever; best to make contingency plans.
I found it shocking how frail he looked and sounded. He handed off the actual iCloud demos to his staff (he used to do those), and really only had a limited amount of time on stage.
I think the other thing people may be reacting to is his relatively somber appearance and attitude. Maybe as his mortality is realized he has become more reflective. But it’s definitely a marked difference in the way he presents.
Still, it was great to see him on stage, to see him smile, and get excited over his companies continued effort in changing the world.
But – I have to say, I worry about the lack of vision. Looking at all the Lion and iOS features. These were clearly dreamed up by his staff, not by Steve. All were great, but none really magical, and I think that’s what we’ll all miss with his absence.
1. The amount Jobs had on stage would probably the same even if he would feel himself as healthiest man on the earth. This was two hour long presentation, not a hour-plus one, not even hour and half one. There has to be planning, and a showcase of people behind Apple beyond Jobs. Lion, iOS, iCloud perfectly divided between three people — it would be too much of one person for all three of the parts, and it would be strange if Jobs would be on two of the tree parts.
2. The vision was definitely there, as always. Much more than may seem now.
3. And there is no way that all of these products were not corrected, co-created by Jobs. He still works regularly, he still has his input.
“But – I have to say, I worry about the lack of vision. Looking at all the Lion and iOS features. These were clearly dreamed up by his staff, not by Steve. All were great, but none really magical, and I think that’s what we’ll all miss with his absence.”
Clearly. LOL.
“Analyst says Steve Jobs’ health concerns not hurting Apple shares”.
True. But something sure is. Blind, small-minded financial people who can’t add or extrapolate ARE hurting Apple shares.
The iPhone didn’t excite analysts at first, nor did the iPad. It took a month or two to sink in.
And if you recall, analysts said iTunes was just nothing, that everyone else would copy it in no time. Software is something analysts have a hard time grasping, and when there wasn’t a surprise iPhone or iPad upgrade they were bitterly disappointed.
This is frustrating. Earnings skyrocketed, competitors keep stumbling, and new Apple software defines the future. But the stock stays still while the company grows like mad. Sooner or later we’ll get off this shelf and move higher.
If you look at Apple’s share price year-over-year, or over a five year period, Apple investors have been rewarded splendidly for their support. But infected with the cancer of greed, today’s investors must have daily gratification or they throw tantrums like two-year-olds. Really pathetic.
I just hope that when Steve decides to leave apple, that he has lots of time left on this earth to spend with the people he loves.
Changing the world is cool, computers and this industry are a blast but it is the people you love and who love you back that really matter in this life.
Yeah, the Steve Jobs health factor. One thing for sure. As weak and gaunt as Steve Jobs appeared to be, he is far, far stronger than Apple’s share price. Any moment I thought that Steve might just keel over but he didn’t. As for Apple’s share price, I knew for a fact that short-selling would knock off a fair number of dollars and that happened right on cue. It is so predictable that it’s no wonder all the hedge funds use Apple as their money-making bitch. Short-selling Apple for any event and on earnings is the quickest way to get rich from Apple. Unfortunately, recent long-term investors aren’t going to see anything from Apple while the company makes money hand over fist.
Andy Zaky is going to have to work a lot harder to figure out how to get straight value out of a stock that seems to have only value to hedge funds but is worthless to straight investors. Eight months and counting, Netflix up 54%, Apple up 3%. As an investor, it’s better to have a stock with a sky-high P/E and make money than to have a stock with a low P/E and lose money. Too bad “iClod” didn’t help Apple’s share price any. It certainly did help boost its competitors’ share prices, though. “iClod” cast a dark cloud over Apple investors’ $400 a share sunny skies.
I was sure disappointed to see that Steve doesn’t seem to be getting any stronger even while on medical leave. When I look at his past keynotes and see how strong and vital he was, I almost can’t connect that young Steve to the current frail Steve. He’s still as dynamic as he was but I almost can’t believe he’s only in his 50’s. He seems like he’s in his 70’s. I’ll sure be sad when he decides to leave the company since he’s done so much for Apple.
you sound like a short seller beating the drum of bad news.
$400 a share will be reached by December this year! Once iPhone upgrade is announced in the fall the stock will once again begin it’s annual permanent climb higher. AAPL is usually flat in summer but soars in the fall. Mark my words!
Steve has grown companies his whole adult life.
He knows how to grow a professional staff that is trained in the basic core concepts for the business. When Steve leaves for a well deserved retirement Apple will go on and prosper.
Apple growth will continue as long as Apple’s staff adhere to the basics already laid out and understood to work for their consumer product business.
Jobs still has great passion for what he does: it will not be easy for him to step down even when the prospects of his health are/will be hopeless. Or, this maybe his wish to fulfil the role of CEO as long as he can. And maybe people around him have enough heart to allow him, one of founders of the company, to fulfil this wish.
Since Jobs’ colleagues obviously knew how he looks and sounds, they definitely want to honour him this way.
Yes, the event could be a farewell for public.
But lets hope it will not and there are chances for health improvement.
If or rather when Steve steps down from the company do you think the it will be the same downhill slide Microsoft has been on since Bill left?
Absurd comparison.
Agree; Gates was never better at anything than Ballmer; Gates supported all of Ballmers major decision during the years; Gates made no less clueless and short-sighted decisions on his own — the same as Ballmer.
No. Gates is not a fair comparison. There really is,at this time in business, nobody remotely close to being as important to their company and its equity valuation. Steve’s health, despite what this analyst states, is and will be a huge factor in the stock price. Anyone paying attention knows this! We all hope that Steve can come back strong. He has endured much and is tougher than most.
Watching the presentation on video, I thought I saw the future of Apple on-stage: Scott Forstall. He lacks the swagger that Jobs made famous, but he has a smooth, cool style that connects with an audience. And iOS is his baby. Expect to see more of him as we, sadly, see less of Steve.
It’s pretty remarkable how much he has aged in the last 10 years. He doesn’t look remotely like he used to. Even taking into account that we all age and don’t look exactly the same, he really looks like a different person. I remember how his presentations used to go. It was the stuff of legend.
its just a show of will and a testament to his dedication for his work. To get up on stage and carry on even like that shows the kind of drive the company has under it’s hood. Very important assets. I hope he gets better and I agree I hope he gets real r&r I’m sure it’s needed.
“Jobs didn’t look much different from his March appearance”
No he didn’t *look* much different, but I noticed immediately his voice was incredibly frail, a sure sign of significant physical weakness. He tried to hide it behind acting low-key and casual, but it still came through. He won’t be around much longer. Good to see he’s still doing and enjoying whatever he can.
You can pre-order his biography.
Wouldn’t be too surprised if that book is really his very last show.
Not surprised but sadened nevertheless.
🙁
he looked awful on the WWDC video. It looked like he was having trouble walking.
Ok what’s up with you guys? I wached the keynote in their site and I noticed that Jobs was not as “alive” as he was on the announcement of the iPad 2. He seemed like he was weak. So he’s in that cOndition and you just care about how apple is doing? What’s wronhmg with you? It’s like as long as you have money, you don’t give a d’m about others.
A lot of people simply do not get the impact that Apple newly announced technology will have in the computing world. It is kind of like the iPhone and the iPad. Once these new ideas take root and people actually start to experience what really was announced, then and only then will they realize just how profound these changes really are.
Has it hurt Apple shares? Yes.
The company is kicking ass in a notoriously competitive spectrum of markets, is monstrously profitable in a nasty worldwide recession, is growing at a healthy rate, is flush with cash, carries mo debt and has a pipeline full of new/improved products and services. Despite this the shares are going sideways.
Have to add my two cents. iTunes was certainly not understood to have the impact it did but it was absolutely revolutionary for apple and it’s products. I believe icloud is exactly the same. Not initially an eye catcher but the repercussions will reverberate through future products and advantages for apple customers.
Steve looked as should be expected. He took leave for a reason. His body doesn’t have the energy but his mind is still amazingly sharp from my observation. No one can predict a persons recovery with certainty. Many people have recovered from “predicted” worse case senerios. Don’t count him out!