Contentinople - Erin Barker - News Bits: What's REALLY Going On With Steve Jobs

Written by Erin Barker

Monday, January 5. 2009 at 10:55 AM EST 2 comments

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OK, first off, everybody relax: Steve is OK. Now that we've all started breathing normally again, I can tell you that he has been suffering from a hormone imbalance, as he explained today in an open letter to his subjects.

The hormone imbalance has been the cause of the weight loss he's shown over the past year, but he expects to regain some strength by late spring and plans to remain CEO during his recovery, he says in the letter. Apple also issued a statement promising to let us know if Jobs changes his plans.

Speculation had swirled around Jobs's health even before it was announced that he would not make his usual address at Macworld, with some even reporting that he was dead (no surprise, wily Jobs claims to have been alive the entire time).

Apple had originally said that Jobs was skipping Macworld because the company was scaling back on tradeshows in general.

In other news:

All eyes will be on Blu-ray this year at the Consumer Electronics Show, which starts on Wednesday in Las Vegas, The New York Times reports. Skeptics say the format is threatened by the increasing presence of downloadable high-def movies, but supporters point out that 600,000 Blu-ray copies of Dark Knight were sold in one day. The Consumer Electronics Association predicts that consumers will spend $1.3 billion on Blu-ray players in 2009, compared with $1.2 billion on DVD players (though Blu-ray players are two to three times more expensive).

More than half of all consumers plan to cut back on high-tech purchases this year, according to a Forrester Research study released today. The online survey of more than 5,000 American adults showed 66 percent were less likely to buy a satellite radio, 63 percent were less likely to buy a smartphone, and 62 percent were less likely to buy a new video game console. While 45 percent said they would delay their plans to purchase a new computer, 44 percent said they hadn't changed plans to buy a new television.

Tags: Apple, iPhone, iPod, iTunes, Technology, Video

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Jobs and Apple brands
sloane
Rank: Pasha
Monday January 5, 2009 12:09:23 PM

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Dr. Tantillo ('the marketing doctor') did a post back in July on his branding blog, pointing out that Jobs and Apple are two separate--albeit intertwined--brands. He insisted that while Jobs is irreplaceable, he should address the question of succession Now (well, then, in July) to best secure Apple's future--and reassure stockholders. It makes sense to at least have a plan in place. Tantillo's full post

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