The Wall Street Journal reported today that Steve Jobs is still very much in control of and involved in Apple’s long term strategic planning and upcoming product releases.
If you recall, Jobs originally went on medical leave sometime last December in order to focus all his energies on beating an undisclosed illness which prevented his body from absorbing nutrients – a condition which caused Jobs to lose a significant and noticeable amount of weight.
With Jobs on medical leave, Apple COO Tim Cook was tasked with running day to day operations. while Apple maintained that Jobs would remain involved in the company’s long term strategic decision making.
And apparently, that’s exactly how thing’s have been.
According to the report in the Wall Street Journal, Jobs “regularly reviews products and product plans, and was particularly involved in the user interface of the new iPhone operating system that Apple unveiled last month.” Not surprisingly, people close to the matter have also said that “Jobs has continued to work on the company’s most important strategies and products from home.”
Jobs originally said that his leave of absence would be for 6 months, which suggests a June return for the Apple co-founder. This has led to speculation that Jobs might make a triumphant return at Apple’s WWDC which is scheduled for early June of this year.
The fact that Jobs is still pulling strings at Apple should come as no surprise. In February it was reported that Steve Jobs was instrumental in negotiations with the record labels regarding the removal of DRM and the introduction of tiered pricing on iTunes.
Related: Steve Jobs argues with Sony over tiered pricing on iTunes
Sat, Apr 11, 2009
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