The health of Steve Jobs once again under scrutiny

by Stevie Smith - Dec 31 2008, 14:36

With the annual Macworld Conference and Expo looming large on the January horizon, it’s hardly surprising that the Apple rumour mill has begun churning the grain of speculation at a breakneck pace.

Specifically, with various online tech watchers pointing to the possible unveiling of the iPhone Nano, a shrunken version of Apple’s iconic touch-screen smartphone, the latest Apple-related chatter suggests a worrying deterioration to the health of company CEO Steve Jobs.

A post added this week to technology site Gizmodo quickly resulted in Apple’s share value dropping from $88 USD to $84.72 USD after the report cited an anonymous source claiming that the state of Jobs’ health was “declining rapidly.”

Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs (53) battled successfully through a bout of pancreatic cancer in 2003, but his health has been the repeated focus of speculation during 2008 after a number of public appearances found him looking unusually thin and drawn.

The latest round of rumours reared up after Apple cancelled the traditional keynote address Jobs routinely presents at the famous Macworld trade show at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

A spokesperson for Cupertino-based Apple, which isn’t best known for its willingness to be open with the media, has responded to the mounting speculation by telling Bloomberg News that: “If Steve or the board of directors decide that Steve isn’t able to do his job, I’m sure they’ll let you know.”

Apple’s share value on the day of Gizmodo’s post recovered around half of the loss, finishing the session at $86.29 USD.

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