The Digital Home

Steve Jobs has finally spoken up about his health, and it's about time.

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CNN's iReport featured a story on Friday saying that a "reliable source" told them that Apple CEO Steve Jobs suffered a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. Since then, Apple has denied the report, saying nothing of the sort happened. After confirming Apple's statement, CNN took the article down.

So it looks like Jobs is doing just fine. But then again, what if he wasn't? I'm willing to accept that he never had the heart attack (why would Apple lie?), but doesn't it beg the question of whether or not Apple should appoint an heir apparent?

I know, I know: some people believe Jobs' health is a private matter and should stay that way, but the stock price plummeted on an unsubstantiated report that Jobs had a heart attack. Can you imagine how far it would fall if it was true?

See, what too many seem to forget is that Jobs is the key to Apple's success and the figurehead that shareholders look to for safe-keeping of their money. Thousands of people are willing to put their retirements in the proper judgment of Jobs, and I think it's time Apple wakes up and realizes that simple fact.

As Tuesday's Apple event gets under way and journalists from all over the world are waiting with bated breath to see what Steve Jobs has to say, it's abundantly clear that the vast majority of people going and those who read the news, will be disappointed.

No, it's not because Apple will waste time or that all those people are Windows fanboys and want nothing to do with Apple. Instead, it's because Apple, unlike every other company in the technology industry, has created such a hype machine that unless it offers something major like a touch-screen Mac or a new iPhone, it'll disappoint even the most giddy fanboy.

See, the problem with Apple's success is that it's expected to keep up with it. How many times has the company announced a press event, carted Jobs onstage, who then announced a few minor upgrades, only to see less than shining press opinions later on because it wasn't "newsworthy" enough? Probably more times than we can count.

Earlier this week, Apple started a firestorm by telling its shareholders that Steve Jobs' health is a private matter. I argued both here on The Digital Home and on CNBC's Closing Bell, that Steve Jobs' health does matter and with no heir apparent in sight, how can shareholders feel secure in their investment?

I won't rehash the argument here, but it does beg one question: where is that heir apparent and who is he or she?

Apple, unlike almost every other company in technology space is so tied to its CEO that whenever he appears on TV or says anything of substance, it becomes a major media event and has an impact on the company's stock price. Beyond that, I would argue that there hasn't been one CEO currently sitting atop a company that has had the kind of impact Steve Jobs has had.

Think of it this way: before he was ousted, Jobs was the most important element in Apple's strategy. Sure, he made mistakes and the company suffered, but his tenacity was what kept that company going.

After this ouster, Jobs watched on the sidelines as his company fell into a malaise. The company's executives presided over an extreme degradation in the Apple product and practically everyone was wondering how long it would last.

And then, Steve Jobs came back and, well, saved the day. He presided over the greatest gain in shareholder value the company had ever seen and restored his company to the position of one of the most feared, yet popular brands in the business. Along the way, he made countless investors multimillionaires.

"Steve loves Apple. He serves at the pleasure of Apple's board. He has no plans to leave Apple. Steve's health is a private matter," said Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer on a conference call with investors on Monday.

Since then, investors have been calling for an update on their CEO's health -- to no avail.

"Every client call today I've had has brought up the health issue," said Charles Wolf, a securities analyst at Needham & Company to the New York Times. "I think the drop was based on the margin; that's when the stock really cratered."

Regardless, it brings up an interesting question: does Steve Jobs' health matter? Sure, he's a CEO of a public company and his decisions will have a major impact on shareholder value, but should his own health matters stay private? After all, I don't want my health records displayed in a public forum and it's not something that I enjoy talking about.

It makes sense for his health issues to be private, right?

Think again.

Macworld

(Credit: CNET Networks)

With all the rumors surrounding Macworld, it's difficult to sift through those possibilities that could actually come true and those that are pure rubbish. And while I don't think I have all the answers, it seems more and more likely that some of the expectations some of us have for Steve next week may not come true.

As it stands, most people are saying that iTunes movie rentals will become a reality next week and an ultraportable Mac is in the works. Still others believe Jobs will revamp the Apple TV and some people believe he'll refresh the entire MacBook line. As for me? I'll tell you what he should (and shouldn't) do when he takes the stage next week.

As Greg Sandoval pointed out over at News.com, Apple may be close to winning over even more movie studios to make iTunes rentals a reality. And while I'll be the first to admit that this is a major victory for Apple, considering the possibility of its service being relegated to irrelevance in the video space, how big of a victory is it for Steve Jobs?

As one BusinessWeek column points out, Steve Jobs was only able to win the studios over by increasing the amount he's willing to pay for films. According to the report, Jobs had once capped the amount he would pay for each movie sold at $14, but has agreed to the $17 fee larger retailers like Wal-Mart are currently paying.

To make matters worse, the music industry has stood up to Jobs for the first time and has offered DRM-free music to Amazon even though Jobs and Company have been asking for such a deal for quite some time.

So what's really going on? Has Steve Jobs -- one of the world's most powerful CEOs -- lost his power? You better believe it.

Mr. Genius

(Credit: News.com)

With Apple announcing its entry into the European cell phone market on Tuesday on the back of O2, the United Kingdom has officially rejoiced at the possibility of having the iPhone that Americans have been coveting for so long.

But amid the excitement and hype, everyone seemed to gloss over one important fact from yesterday's announcement: Apple's iPhone business model is second to none, and Steve Jobs really is smarter than the rest of the world.

The new deal with O2 highlighted two interesting points: first off, O2, much like AT&T, is more than happy to share revenue with Apple. Secondly, it displayed the naivete of O2 to actually believe that Apple will stand by it through thick and thin. Hasn't O2 watched any of the iPhone-unlocking news hitting the wire in the past few weeks? Steve Jobs doesn't care about O2; he only cares about profits. And with this new deal, Great Britain may become the best profit center Apple has ever seen.