Steve Jobs Asks for Privacy–and He Deserves It This Time

January 17, 2011 at 7:32 am PT

There had indeed been rumors about Steve Jobs’s health, after he didn’t show up at the Apple iPhone launch on Verizon Wireless in New York last week, as was expected.

And then they flared again, when the event to show off News Corp.’s new Apple iPad-only newspaper, the Daily, was postponed due to issues related to its subscription system.

This pair of non-Jobs events had caused a low-grade rumble in Silicon Valley that perhaps tech’s most iconic, gifted and charismatic CEO could be sick again.

In fact, I got a dozen calls last week from people asking me if I knew if anything was wrong, which I did not.

And while the tech echo chamber usually puts two and two together and comes up with three, this time all that gossip turned out to be quite correct.

Jobs is once again ill enough to have to take time off from his leadership role, which he called a “medical leave of absence” in an email to his staff released today.

So now, once again, the intense debate will begin about exactly what is happening with Jobs’s health, how much Apple should reveal and how much it will likely not, and how that is so very awful, because the people deserve to know.

In fact, we–the media and Wall Street and Apple users–already know plenty enough, which is: Jobs has had a persistent and very serious illness he has been fighting successfully for many years now.

But his outlook, from the moment he found out about his particular form of pancreatic cancer, has never been really good.

More to the point, his ability to bounce back several times has been both heartening and more than a little miraculous.

But, remember this: Both times he has taken time off for health reasons, Jobs has come back with fierce and game-changing innovation.

The iPhone came out after his first big bout with his illness, the iPad after the second.

Today, it’s happened a third time and I suspect much of what will be written about his diagnosis will be sheer speculation and only a little bit will be accurate reporting.

I am guessing this time too that Jobs will be as tight-lipped as ever about what he’s going through, which could be a wide range of medical issues, some more serious than others.

And that, I think, should be what everyone should let him do, because the public Steve Jobs has given his large audience more than enough since he got back after the last time he was sick.

Today, he said in the email: “I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy.”

I, for one, think he deserves exactly that and much more.

But, if you can’t get enough of him, until he hopefully recovers, will you settle for this tremendous onstage interview he gave to Walt Mossberg and me last year at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference?

It is vintage Jobs, as you will see:

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Tagged with: Apple, BoomTown, conference, diagnosis, digital, echo chamber, email, event, health, illness, innovation, Internet, interview, iPad, iPhone, iPhpne, Kara Swisher, leadership, medical, medical leave of absence, New York, News Corp., newspaper, onstage, pancreatic cancer, privacy, reporting, rumor, Silicon Valley, speculation, staff, Steve Jobs, subscription, telecom, The Daily, Verizon Wireless, video, Wall Street

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http://pulse.yahoo.com/_RHVMAOQ2FDIZ6XUKNHS55LCYDI bruzer

settle for this tremendous onstage interview he gave to Walt Mossberg and I last year at the eighth D: All Things Digital?

It’s “gave to Walt M. and me” not “I”.
Anonymous

Both are correct, depending on where you are, and where the speaker learned to talk or went to school. And the “I” version is actually considered “more correct” if you had to choose one. Grammar Nazism is impractical on the World Wide Web.
Anonymous

It’s not Nazism, Mr. Doey. It’s called proper grammar. “He gave I a dollar” is awkward and wrong. So is ‘he gave to I and Walt.’ You wouldn’t say ‘Him gave to I,’ would you? The proper case for both words matters. More important, let’s hope people pay attention to Ms. Swisher’s plea that we respect Steve Jobs’ privacy…and that Steve Jobs regains good health. We hope for many more years of SJ’s innovations.
Anonymous

So well said. The guy has given us all so much, starting in frickin’ 1977, and has lived his entire life in public. Let him have a little quiet. All the sturm and drang last time amounted to nothing. We barely even remember it now.

From a strictly investment-based perspective, everyone who bailed on Apple stock due to concerns over Steve Jobs’ health lost money. EVERYONE.

And if you think a company with the size and successes of Apple is a solo project, you are dreaming. He may be the number 1 pitcher in baseball, but Apple has numbers 2 through 10 as well. At least. Apple’s culture is so strong even the users know how to run the company. The idea that Apple’s executive team doesn’t is insane. And Mr. Jobs has already said there is a 20 year plan, and with what we’ve seen in the past 30, I don’t doubt it.
Anonymous

Kara, you are right – but I fear turning this article into more page hits for your interview video is a little tasteless.
Anonymous

short AAPL.
Yacko

“He gave I a dollar” is awkward and wrong”

Give it ten years and it will seem natural.
Yacko

Support Apple, buy on market jitters and price weakness. This company is a juggernaut for several years whoever is at the helm.
Anonymous

Ironically I just was in Cupertino and had a morning jog with Steve. Here are my accounts: http://bit.ly/hGIpr7

Here’s to a speedy recovery!
http://allthingsd.com/boomtown Kara Swisher

I am not. It’s a good interview and we always add them to stories when we discuss various folks.
Anonymous

It’s not about what Steve Jobs deserves, but about what Apple’s stockholders deserve. Jobs is the CEO of the second most valuable U.S. company and is considered the most important contributor to the company’s success. As we’ve seen when he came back, one person can make a huge difference. Since his absence is a material to the company’s business and shareholders, the company needs to be completely forthcoming. It’s a lot more than about a single individual.
Anonymous

Well said Kara, I wish Steve well, and hope people give him a some support, the man changed the world, let’s him a little space.
Anonymous

Apple stockholders after some due diligence should be well aware of Steve’s illness and requests for privacy, it’s part of the deal, if you’re unhappy with Mr Jobs not throwing his medical history open for the whole world, I suggest you sell any holdings you have in Apple tomorrow.
http://www.google.com/profiles/axualgroup Joe

“There had indeed been rumors about Steve Jobs’s health, after he didn’t show up at the Apple iPhone launch on Verizon Wireless in New York last week, as was expected.”

Expected by whom? I was not expecting it. Seems the media jumps to conclusions too much and ends up creating their own little scenarios. Did someone from the media call Apple, and did Apple say Steve would attend, and then we find Steve did not attend (as expected)? I think not.
Anonymous

He only deserves his privacy if Apple is forthcoming with news about his condition. For a company that relies almost exclusively on inmage (certainly not value for the money) his health is absolutely a business matter than shareholders are entitled to know about
Anonymous

What a stupid thing to say. Those who bailed on Apple stock when Jobs left last time…and then came back when he did, made a LOT of money because of their decision.

Then again…I don’t expect much logic an reason from an Apple fanboy…especially one who swears that “in some schools, it is considered acceptable to use I as the object of a sentence. I don’t know what he hell school you went to…but if you paid any tuition, demand a full refund.
Anonymous

The stock is still overpriced based on the P/E.

It s as if no one remembers early 2008 and thinks it couldn’t happen again. This is true of delusional fanboys of both Apple and Google.
Anonymous

He only deserves his privacy if Apple is forthcoming with news about his condition. For a company that relies almost exclusively on inmage (certainly not value for the money) his health is absolutely a business matter than shareholders are entitled to know about.
Anonymous

And many did. They only avoided a big loss because of their earnings. That is why they didn’t finish up nearly as much as the market as a whole.

Steve Jobs Asks for Privacy–and He Deserves It This Time

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