Thursday, February 17, 2011
iFans in a tizzy over Jobs' health
The National Enquirer, an American tabloid, reported on Thursday that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is seriously ill and quoted a doctor saying that Jobs might live for only six more weeks. The doctor came to the conclusion by "analyzing recent photographs of Jobs". The tabloid claimed to have taken the photographs while following Jobs to the Stanford Cancer Center at Palo Alto in California. Apple did not react to the report till late on Thursday night. While some may rubbish it as speculation, not everyone is optimistic because Jobs had taken his second medical leave in January, leading to renewed talks about his health. Besides, the medical history of Jobs is not too encouraging either: In 2004, he had undergone surgery for pancreatic cancer and in 2009, he underwent a liver transplant. The reaction over the report across India ranged from incredulity to worries over Jobs' health. "The six-week figure was arrived by someone looking at just the photo published by National Enquirer. That obviously can't be taken as credible information," said Amit Agarwal, renowned tech blogger who writes at Digital Inspiration. "Right now, Apple is very secretive and assertive with everything. Whether it's the procedure for allowing apps in app store or not allowing Adobe Flash on the iPad. A big part of this decision-making process is Jobs. If he leaves, maybe we can expect Apple to be a little less restrictive," he added. P R Rajendran, director of Chennai-based Next Wave Multimedia, a mobile app development company, is such a huge fan that he named his firm after NeXT, the company Jobs started when he was asked to leave Apple in 1985. "Jobs is my hero. His contribution to the tech world is immense. I wish him all the luck," he said. Rama Bethmangalkar, an Apple fan or iFan and an investment manager at VC firm Ventureast, has bought three generations of Macbooks, talks on iPhone, listens to music on an iPod and reads on his iPad. "Jobs has been an innovative leader and due credit must be given to him for the products that Apple has churned out. But it's not as if he was the only one who worked on all these products. The new leadership will follow the same pattern. So I don't think him not being there will be a huge detriment to the Apple's fortune," he said. Not everyone is so sure. "Jobs is supposed to be the brain behind most of Apple's innovations and the main decision-maker. There will be a definite impact on the direction Apple takes in the future if Jobs is not around," says Manoj Kumar, a tech-savvy ex-IITian, who works as a networking professional in Bangalore. Some also think it's time for Jobs to start planning his successor regardless of the rumours. Timothy D Cook, the company's COO has served as the acting CEO in Jobs' absence more than once. "But I think Jobs should name future leaders, especially since he has groomed some of the key personnel in the company," says Shuveb Hussain. Hussain heads the cloud computing division of K7 Computing, when not buying Apple products, reading about Apple or eyeing the latest Apple TV. "Jobs is human so there will be a point in time when Apple will have to function without him. He's an enigma, an icon and a hero to many. It would be curious to think about Apple beyond him."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment