newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Many analysts and observers are uneasy about the prospects of Apple's future without its co-founder being around.

CEO Steve Jobs has taken a leave of absence from the company to deal with continuing health issues.

According to the Hindustan Times, Jeffery Young, who co-authored the book "iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act the History of Business,'' believes Jobs' illness will have a "significant" impact on Apple as the iconic company braces for a stand-off with a brand-new Microsoft.

"I think the real risk for Apple is in the next couple of years, because it's facing a major challenge from Google and Android in both the tablet and the iPhone markets."

"That's going to require the kind of insight and foresight that the company will be hard pressed to deliver without Steve there.''

Concerns were not abated recently when Jobs was photographed outside the Stanford Cancer Center, the same treatment facility where the late Patrick Swayze sought chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer in his final days. The National Enquirer has published photos, and is said to have broken the story of Jobs only having six weeks to live.

For the record, Otis Brawley, Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society told Forbes.com it is impossible to estimate someone's life expectancy based on a photograph or videotape.

New York Daily News reports Jobs publicly came forward about his battle with and surgery for pancreatic cancer in 2004. He is currently on his third leave of absence from work in seven years.

Jobs' previous six-month departure from the company in 2009 was surrounded by speculation that the CEO was much more ill than he let on.

According to AdWeek, Apple's CEO didn't announce his diagnosis until after he'd gone through treatment for it in 2004. At the time, he said he'd been "cured." What was labeled a "common bug" in June 2008, a "hormone imbalance" in January 2009 and a "more complex" ailment the following week led to a trip to Switzerland in search of treatment. This ultimately led to a liver transplant in April 2009 that was only made public two months later-by The Wall Street Journal, not Apple.

Jacob S. Frenkel, a partner at Shulman Rogers, says, "From the company's perspective, the less they disclose the better."

But Jobs has been up and around this week. According to the New York Post, President Obama dined with Silicon Valley's tech moguls — including Jobs on Thursday night. Of the 15 seated around the table, Jobs is the only one who didn't lift his elbow off the table for a toast.

Twitter's CEO Dick Costolo kept quiet about the event. But he called it "a good meeting with a frank and vigorous exchange of opinions focused on innovation and economic growth, including topics such as the nation's investment in research and education, high-skill visa reform, and educating more engineers and scientists."

The White House did not divulge many details about the event.