I am really sick of the media's attempts to stir up a controversy over Apple's non-disclosure of Steve Jobs' liver transplant. While the critics claim to be protecting investors' interest, it's pretty obvious that triggering a panic by announcing the news earlier would've been unduly damaging to AAPL's stock price. However, such a drop in the stock would've been wholly disproportionate and due to the completely overblown (and media-stoked) perception that Apple's success is entirely reliant on Jobs.
There's no doubt that he's a big part of Apple's multi-year resurgence, probably the biggest part, but the company's businesses (Macs, iPhones, iPods) are all now long-established and thriving, and won't fall apart simply because Jobs has to back off from day-to-day operations. It's in big-picture strategy that his main contribution to Apple's success lies, and despite all the noise, there's nothing to suggest that Jobs was, at any time, near death or incapable of continuing to contribute to major strategic decisions (apart from, one would imagine, the time when he was actually being operated on).
I think the fundamental question is this: was Jobs' illness and consequent need for a liver transplant really an immediate threat to Apple's business, or is that mainly an exaggerated perception that has been actively promoted and promulgated by the press? In my opinion, the numbers speak for themselves - Apple's business has continued to thrive despite Jobs being on medical leave, objectively demonstrating that he really isn't as vital to Apple's success as the press has made out.
In other words, just because some stupid investors might panic because of what they've been led to believe by the press, the reality is that Jobs' liver transplant did not, at the time, represent any real immediate danger to Apple's ongoing business. Apple shouldn't be subjected to a higher standard of disclosure simply because the press has decided to manufacture a cult of personality (and thus, a myth of indispensibility) around Steve Jobs.
Yesterday's YellowHandTweets after the cut, posted by LoudTwitter.
Recent Comments