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Tech Check
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chakote Steve Jobs |
Jobs sent out a very personal email this morning to the Apple [AAPL
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] community acknowledging the rumors of his ill health and his severe weight loss. He admitted that its cause was vexing to him and to his doctors, and says only after sophisticated blood tests was his medical team able to discover what it believes to be the root cause of the problem: a hormonal imbalance that is robbing his body of necessary nutrients. No cancer recurrence. Nothing more insidious. And best of all for Apple, and for Jobs personally: he says treatment is easy and he will continue in his role as CEO while he undergoes it.
This should go a long way toward quieting those persistent rumors that have put Jobs erroneously on his deathbed, and hovered over Apple shares like those horrible alien ships in "Independence Day."
I have said all along that Apple legally was not compelled to release any information about Jobs' health unless it had a material effect on his ability to run the company. It's a principle to which Apple has steadfastly clung, trying to draw a line between privacy and public relations, even at the expense of Apple investors clamoring for the company to do something to rescue them.
No news was good news, I argued, and that if Apple wasn't saying anything, it's because there was nothing material to disclose. It's a key point.
But in this world where every word is parsed and picked over, there was a growing chorus that maybe Jobs was suffering badly but still running the show from a hospital bed. Again, if that were the case, Apple still wouldn't have to share any information because he was still acting as CEO. Legally, the company would be compelled to share nothing as long as he was still actively in charge.
None of that mattered though. The shorts ruled the day, and when Jobs pulled out of tomorrow's Macworld keynote a few weeks ago, a new wave of speculation torpedoed the company's shares anew. Never mind that the company had nothing new to report. Rumors and brutal market manipulation won; and Apple investors who believe in the company, its strategy and its fundamentals, lost. As has been the case for months.
No more. The shorts lose. Time to cover, and go slinking back into the shadows. (I have no qualms about betting against a company, by the way. I'm speaking to the message board wackos and blog posters who have been fueling this garbage heap day after day with lies. Your day in the sun is now over.)
The company and Jobs went way beyond the call today with a personal note and a corresponding letter from Apple's board that should finally put these rumors to bed. Maybe Phil Schiller will have is own "One More Thing" at the conclusion of his keynote at Macworld tomorrow and parade out Steve Jobs for a cameo.
That's tomorrow. As for today? Sing it with me: Bye, bye shorts. This should be the day the Apple shorts died.
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Rival Software/Gadget/Handheld Giants:
Research in Motion [RIMM
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Microsoft [MSFT
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Nokia [NOK
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