Steve Jobs will be temporarily stepping down as Apple’s chief executive while he takes a leave of absence for health reasons. He sent the following letter to employees this morning:
Team,
I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. 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. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.
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.
I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.
I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.
Steve
I don’t want to speculate about what this could mean, but “more complex than I originally thought” doesn’t bode well. Tim Cook is Apple’s chief operating officer and took the reins when Jobs was undergoing treatment for a bout of pancreatic cancer.
If Jobs does indeed return in June, he’ll be just in time for a new product announcement–will it be the iPhone nano or 4 GB iPhone?
