Few have bothered to notice that Steve Jobs looks healthier recently, given the iPad hype and all, according to a recent report. At least one person believes Apple’s CEO is more fit than the last time we saw him deliver a keynote address. There’s imagery to back up these claims, of course. Click on the image to the left, and read on for the full scoop.

A piece by Frank Cioffi, writing in the Apple Investor News section of the Tech Investor News network, points everyone’s attention to the Steve Jobs appearing before an enthusiastic crowd of journalists at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), on January 27, 2010. That’s right, not the iPad, but Steve Jobs, Apple’s iconic CEO. A while ago, Jobs defeated cancer and, as he was recuperating, he issued an open letter to the Apple fan base saying he’d be back on his feet in no time. According to Cioffi, Jobs is making good on his promise.

“Given the massive 2008-2009 press coverage of the Steve Jobs illness story, it’s interesting that very few journalists or bloggers noticed that Apple’s CEO appeared much healthier at last week’s iPad announcement,” says Cioffi, making tech-journalists look like amateurs. “Take a look at Steve from a still frame shot of last Wednesday’s iPad event compared to a similarly-framed still shot from the September, 2009 iPod event (both frames were pulled from Apple’s own Quicktime videos),” he writes. “It certainly appears he’s put on some pounds,” Cioffi believes. Indeed, the image shows a much healthier 2010 Steve Jobs but, as Cioffi himself points out, variations in stage lighting between events can be misleading.

Apple’s CEO did seem more vivid at last week’s “creation” event, come to think of it, but the anticipation of Apple’s tablet cast a shadow onto everything else, including the fourth-generation iPhone supposedly appearing in leaked pictures of the iPad. As usual, we’re dying to hear what you think: does Apple’s CEO look healthier to you too?