Bear in mind, I haven’t actually watched the WWDC keynote yet (hey, I’m a busy man), but there seems to be a sentiment floating around that excitement-wise, this was one of the most lackluster keynotes in years. Some attribute it to the lineup of announcements being precisely what was expect, and no more, and others think it has more to do with the fact that the forces were divided, with Steve Jobs sharing time with Phil Schiller, Bertrand Serlet, and Scott Forestall.
But Leander Kahney at Wired’s Cult of Mac column thinks it might be something deeper:
I wondered if Jobs, who was treated for cancer last year, was sick. Was he sharing presentation duties to save energy? When I saw Jobs introducing the iPod Hi-Fi at Apple’s headquarters in late February, about five months ago, it looked to me like he was tiring quickly and was glad to get it over.Kahney thinks this is a harbinger of what’s to come when Steve finally steps down, a matter we’ve discussed before.
Even though Jobs appears to have made a remarkable recovery from cancer, he may be reevaluating his priorities, in much the way Bill Gates has done. In some ways, I’d be unsurprised to see him announce that he’ll be stepping down in a few years’ time, though I certainly hope it’s not the case. As a friend I was chatting with while writing this remarked, “Maybe he should leave and come back again.” Personally, I think we should wait and see how Macworld 2007 goes before we make any snap judgments.
WOW
is creepy how i thought he was way too skinny when he walked in and wondered if he was sick...
i've always wondered what would happen to a big company that has it's success solely based in passion... would it survive whoever is replacing that guy with a dream?? let's hope steve will leave behind a well qualified team with his vision of the future...
I agree. I was discussing this a bit over at Think Secret, and I think it'll be a few years if Jobs is thinking about stepping down. I think we'll start seeing more execs on stage to get users used to them and comfortable when Jobs leaves. We'll have to wait and see what happens at Macworld 2007.
But I sure did like Scott Forestall. I'd like to see more of him on stage. Perhaps he could be Jobs's sucessor.
I am going to be honest here, Steve did not look healthy at WWDC, he looks almost gaunt, and frail. I remember watching the introduction of the iPod NANO and iMac with built camera announcement and he looked healthy there in October 2005.
But since 2006 he hasn't looked very healthy, I pray his cancer has gone into remission. He always had fat look to me, not fat, fat, but healthy look, even when he was bearded.