14 DAY TRIAL // With two health-related announcements out the door from Apple's press room recently, the media could only have become more relentless. Reports are now adding new information to Apple's open statements.
“Two people who are familiar with Mr. Jobs’s current medical treatment said he was not suffering from a recurrence of cancer, but a condition that was preventing his body from absorbing food,” a NY Times report says. “Doctors have also advised him to cut down on stress, which may be making the problem worse,” the same people are quoted as stating. Steve Dowling (Apple spokesperson) has revealed that the company has no comment beyond Mr. Jobs’s letter.
Soon after Mr. Jobs' second announcement had been posted, Apple shares dropped rapidly in after-hours trading, losing $6.03 or 7.1 percent, to $79.30. The stock fell 2.71 percent in regular trading, the same report shows.
Analyst Charles Wolf over at Needham & Company follows Apple closely. The researcher suggests that this is only the beginning of bad things to come. Wolf even trusts the market to see Steve Jobs already gone. “It is reasonable to expect, given the history of Steve’s illness, that the market is probably going to assume that he is not going to return to Apple,” Mr. Wolf argues.
However, even though Steve Jobs is greatly associated with Apple's success (and for good reason too), Apple is expected to survive, perhaps even to flourish, once a successor is in place.
According to Steve Jobs' email to all Apple staffers, Tim Cook will be handling the day to day operations, during the CEO's medical leave. Whether or not Cook is fit for the chief executive position, analysts trust that many Apple execs are currently able to take over Jobs' responsibilities. Cook (arrived to Apple from computer maker Compaq) is seen as one of the main contenders to that title.
“I don’t think we know enough about Tim, since he has never really been in the limelight,” Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, maintains. “What we can say is Apple has a complicated business model with enormous seasonality. But it has been exceptionally well run across a number of dimensions for a number of years. I think a lot of that credit goes to Tim,” he concludes. Tim Cook is currently responsible for Apple's manufacturing and sales operations.
