Apple: Jobs To Return End of June

According to various rumours, Steve Jobs would make a surprise appearance during last week’s keynote address at the WWDC, marking the end of his sick leave. While that rumour turned out to be false, Apple has now confirmed that Jobs will return to Apple at the end of June.

An Apple spokesman confirmed the news to Times Online. “We look forward to Steve returning to Apple at the end of June,” the spokesman said. Steve Jobs has been on a sick leave for about six months due to a hormone imbalance, because of which he could not fulfil his duties as CEO of Apple. Tim Cook took over as interim CEO for the time being.

With Steve Jobs on sick leave, the company more or less had the opportunity to show the world how apple would function without Jobs around. The charismatic CEO has played a crucial role in turning the company around from near-bankruptcy in the late ’90s, and many wondered if apple wasn’t too centred around Jobs to be able to function without him.

The past six months indicate that Apple can function without Jobs, but at the same time, we’re just talking six months here, and six months during which, according to Apple, Jobs was still involved in all major decisions. Still, our favourite punching bags the analysts think Apple will perform just fine without Jobs at the helm. “I would not for a moment think that the innovation and drive that Apple has would be lost without him,” said Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices for Gartner.

We at OSAlert are happy Jobs is in good health again, and that he’ll be able to return to duty later this month. I prefer keynotes delivered with his smugness instead of Schiller’s.

That’s a joke.

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