Is Steve Jobs Ill?

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By: switchtoamac at: 12:11 PM on August 8, 2006 | Comments (4)

This is an off topic post that is out of the scope of this site but I decided to publish it anyway. As I watched the WWDC 2006 keynote, I couldn't help coming to the conclusion that Steve Jobs might be ill. I didn't think he looked healthy. In fact, he looked somewhat weak. Could the cancer be back? I hope not, please no. Recall that it was almost two years ago that he was diagnosed and treated for a "very rare" type of pancreatic cancer.

I was somewhat distracted when I viewing the keynote. Of course, I was interested in seeing the Leopard preview and I was focused on the Mac Pro announcement but I clearly remember my thought when I first saw Steve walk on stage. I thought to myself, "he sure looks thin". Feeding my thoughts are that Steve conducted the keynote by leveraging comments and demonstrations by three other Apple executives. Steve would present, call on an executive, then reappear. This happened several times. Steve had neither the stamina nor the passion he's put forth in past keynotes.

I've linked to some pictures from the WWDC 2006 keynote hosted at Engadget and pictures hosted on the Apple web site from Macworld San Francisco 2006. Apple hasn't posted their own pictures from WWDC 2006 on their site yet. You'll see that Jobs looks much thinner than he did eight months ago at Macworld. Please decide for yourself. If possible, please view the WWDC 2006 keynote as well as other keynotes over the past couple of years from WWDC and Macworld.

WWDC 2006 keynote (August 7, 2006)

Macworld 2006 Images (January 10, 2006)

Apple Hot News

A Few Questions

Has Apple begun the process of Steve stepping down?
Is that why three Apple executives assisted during the keynote?
Who could be a likely successor?

I think something is wrong and I pray that he's ok, not because he is the CEO of Apple or an icon, because he like all of us is a human being. I hope I'm wrong. I hope all is well with you Steve. Take Care.

4 Reader Comments

nreddy on: August 8, 2006 1:29 PM said:

I hope he's ok. I also thought he looked thin when I saw the keynote replay last night.

Scott on: August 8, 2006 1:49 PM said:

After all the hysteria in the Wallstreet press that Apple is nothing without Steve Jobs, they were most likely trying to show that more than one person actually works at Apple (He looked perfectly healthy to me).

Besides, the WWDC isn't the same thing as a general Mac show. These are the people behind the scenes, who aren't necessarily "sexy" or polished enough to wow the general public, who are, never the less, very important to developers.

Anonymous on: August 8, 2006 9:42 PM said:

Steve looked way to thin. People at age 50 don't lose weight, they have normally put on 10 pounds. It's almost impossible to be that thin at age 50 and Steve has never been someone who looked like a weakling. It is sad, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that he is seriously ill. It's a shame because we enjoy his products and he says himself that he loves his life, with his work and family.

coops on: August 9, 2006 2:36 AM said:

My take....He's either on a very restricted diet (more than being vegetarian), or he has some serious health concerns.

When I saw a clip of Steve from the WWDC-06 keynote on the evening news, my first comment was," Whoa, he has lost a ton of weight." You can really see it in his shoulders and face. He appears to have lost some vigor...

I hope for him and his family that he is doing well.