I guess you’ve all heard about Steve Jobs’ news about stepping away for personal health reasons — at the doorstep of this year’s MacWorld Expo. Just the same, InfoManager has gathered these most insightful stories ….
* Breakaway results as Jobs steps away
* Steve Jobs and the inanity of the cult CEO
* Disclosure of Steve Jobs’s Illness: Round Two
* The Gospel of Steve Jobs
… along with : * Weekly tech agenda: Macworld Expo * Macworld Expo Rolls Out iMacworld for iPhone, iPad * Apple responds to critics of Chinese working conditions * More Than 100 New Products * How Apple handles customer outcries * The Mystery of Spontaneously Installed Growl
Breakaway results as Jobs steps away
Apple announced its mastermind CEO Steve Jobs is taking a medical leave of absence, but did not disclose the extent of his health issues or how long he’s expected to be away. In 2009, Jobs took a six-month leave for a liver transplant and had pancreatic cancer diagnosed in 2004
The news came out the day before the company reported record quarterly profits (see below). Jobs will step away as the company prepares to launch new versions of the iPad and iPhone. 
Full story : The Washington Post
Steve Jobs and the inanity of the cult CEO
If you believe a company can’t sustain the loss of a single individual, you shouldn’t invest in it. Steve Jobs is a wonder, but he is not a one-man $300 billion corporation.
We had to know it was going to happen. As soon as word came out about Steve Jobs’ latest health issue, a swath of commentators would jump on the “shareholders’ right to know” issue and run with it. Steve Jobs, they would argue, is Apple personified. Without him, it’s over. Full story : Fortune.com
Disclosure of Steve Jobs’s Illness: Round Two
Ben Heineman Jr. for Atlantic writes:
On January 17, I wrote a piece saying that Apple should disclose what illness had caused Steve Jobs to take a medical leave for an unspecified time. In my view, such disclosure of CEO health should be undertaken voluntarily as a matter of good corporate governance and sound investor relations. But, the SEC should also issue guidance under the securities law that, if certain conditions exist, such information should be disclosed as material (because, per the definition of materiality, it would affect an investor’s decision to buy or sell securities). Full story : www.theatlantic.com
The Gospel of Steve Jobs
The Apple CEO was able to articulate a perfectly secular form of hope. Steve Jobs’s medical leave of absence is the top story in today’s newspapers. The Wall Street Journal says his brief and poignant memo raises “uncertainty over his health and the future of the world’s most valuable technology company.”
As remarkable as Steve Jobs is in countless ways — as a designer, an innovator, a (ruthless and demanding) leader — his most singular quality has been his ability to articulate a perfectly secular form of hope. Nothing exemplifies that ability more than Apple’s early logo, which slapped a rainbow on the very archetype of human fallenness and failure – the bitten fruit – and made it a sign of promise and progress. Full story : www.christianitytoday.com
Weekly tech agenda: Macworld Expo
Mac fans have been waiting all year long to see the latest made-for-Mac gadgets, software and accessories at the annual Macworld Expo, the largest Apple Macintosh event in the world. During the same week the sixth annual M-Days congress-fair will take place in Germany.
Speakers from Google, Coca Cola and Nokia, among others, will discuss emerging trends in the mobile industry. Full story : www.independent.co.uk
Macworld Expo Rolls Out iMacworld for iPhone, iPad
Next week’s Macworld Expo 2011 will be filled with so many activities that it can be next to impossible to keep on top of what’s going on, which is why the event’s team released iMacworld 3.0 for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad this week. The app lists conference schedules, expo floor maps, show vendors, and businesses that are close to the convention center.
iMacworld 3.0 is free and is available at Apple’s iTunes-based App Store. Full story : www.macobserver.com
Apple responds to critics of Chinese working conditions
Apple has reiterated company policy regarding the use of Chinese component suppliers and said it is “committed to ensuring the highest standards of social responsibility throughout our supply base,” according to Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu quoted in Macworld today.
The company says it requires all suppliers to agree to Apple’s code of conduct before any contracts are signed. Full story : Mel Martin – tuaw.com
More Than 100 New Products
Remember when MacWorld was the showcase of thousands of new products … filling all of Moscone with more than 3,000 vendors?
This year, mere dozens of companies will showcase more than 100 new products next week at Macworld 2011. Each year, Macworld is the event of choice for Apple third-party product manufacturers to unveil and launch their newest products – including software, hardware, peripherals, accessories and applications – for the Apple products platform. Full story : www.centredaily.com
How Apple handles customer outcries
The customer is sometimes right.
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses,” said Henry Ford. Like the automobile pioneer, Apple has long eschewed focus groups and popular opinion in determining how make its products insanely great, focusing instead on making its own design decisions without soliciting its customers’ prior approval. But even Apple and CEO Steve Jobs may not always know best. Sometimes, the company has revisited its decisions in light of user outcry – though certainly there are times that user complaints haven’t spurred any Apple changes. Full story : www.macworld.com
The Mystery of Spontaneously Installed Growl
Back in 1984, the original Mac could only run a single program at a time. But we’ve come a long way in the last quarter century and these days our computers can do more things at once than we can–or often want to–count.
Growl isn’t part of the OS; it’s third-party software. Many third-party programs use Growl, and sometimes a program will install Growl without making it obvious to the user. And that has created a bit of stir with the Growl developers. Full story : www.pcworld.com
Thanks for reading . . .
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