Steve Jobs is still the man behind the curtain, despite medical leave

By Jeffrey Van Camp February 11, 2011

Steve Jobs may be on medical leave, but that doesn’t mean he’s actually ready to cede control to his acting CEO. The Wall Street Journal reports that the 55-year-old Jobs, who went on medical leave from Apple for an undetermined length of time just three weeks ago, is still swinging the hammer behind the scenes.

Sources say that Jobs has been heavily involved in iPad 2 and iPhone 5 discussions, often taking business meetings at home and on the phone. He’s also been spotted on Apple’s campus and in public in Palo Alto. COO Tim Cook has been overseeing daily operations at Apple while Jobs is away.

“Steve is the CEO of Apple and during his medical leave he’ll continue to be involved in major strategic decisions,” said an Apple spokeswoman.

Jobs has continually struggled with his health. In 2004, he was treated for pancreatic cancer and in 2009 he left the company for six months to get a liver transplant. He has appeared more physically frail ever since, but as sharp and determined as ever. No information is available as to what condition he might have currently, but it could be further complications related to his cancer treatments.

Question is: does Apple need Jobs more than Jobs need Apple?

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Jeffrey Van Camp

Former Digital Trends Contributor

As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…

Computing

I finally found a gaming laptop utility that’s actually worth using

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 sitting on a coffee table.

Nearly all gaming laptops come with bundled first-party software, and most of it isn't all that good. They tend to be poorly designed and riddled with bloatware and features that you'll never need. Armoury Crate is Asus' version of that, and while it isn't terrible, it suffers from many of those same problems.

A large number of users on Reddit have voiced their criticism of Armoury Crate, accusing it of being buggy, broken, and overly complex. Some of the most common issues include the software's cluttered user interface, promotional pop-ups, unnecessary bloatware, and the high usage of system resources. In my experience, I do find Armoury Crate's UI to be confusing, and I've also noticed that the software runs way too many background processes and services, some of which seem unnecessary.

Computing

How to delete Slack messages on desktop and mobile

how to delete slack messages message confirm mac desktop

If your company uses Slack as its preferred communication tool, then you'll need to know the basics of navigating it. And one action you might want to know how to take in Slack is deleting a message. You can remove a direct message or one you post in a channel using any of the Slack desktop, web, and mobile applications.

For those times when you type a message in the wrong channel or conversation or simply say something you wish you hadn’t, here’s how to delete Slack messages.

Computing

How to download a video from Facebook

An elderly person holding a phone.

Facebook is a great place for sharing photos, videos, and other media with friends and family. But what if you’d like to download a video to store offline? This means you’d be able to watch the clip on your PC or mobile device, without needing to be connected to the internet. Fortunately, there’s a way to download Facebook videos to your everyday gadgets, although it’s not as straightforward a process as it could be.