14 DAY TRIAL // Apple boss, Steve Jobs turns 56 on February 24, this week. The CEO’s birthday falls on Thursday, when his company is believed to have prepared the unveiling of new MacBook Pro computers equipped with Sandy Bridge processors and dual SSD-HDD storage options.
Apple’s CEO is currently on medical leave of absence, following various cancer treatments, over the course of several years, and a liver transplant more recently.
Jobs is thinner and weaker than ever, according to images published by The National Enquirer last week.
Based on these images, several physicians have gone on record to say the CEO has weeks to live, though many also don’t agree that such a diagnosis can be set based on mere photographs, albeit authentic ones.
In the meantime, work at Apple continues, with a planned refresh of the iPad, as well as a refresh of its MacBook Pro family which the company is expected to introduce on its CEO’s birthday, multiple reports say.
Dealers, retailers and resellers are said to have been notified by Apple that pallets of new hardware are to arrive at their warehouses, with strict do-not-open signs.
On February 24, they should be allowed to unveil the systems, according to these reports.
However, Apple also has an iPad 2 up its sleeve.
While even the MacBook refresh alone deserves a ceremony, provided that rumors of the systems’ hardware specs are true, the iPad 2 is no product to launch by simply taking down the Apple online store to update its listings.
Therefore, it should be noted that Apple may plan to make both these announcements at a dedicated event.
However, given that February 24 is just two days away, with Apple sending no invitations to any press event it may have planned, the rumored MacBook Pro refresh date may be purely speculative, being conveniently tied to Steve Jobs’ birthday.