Report: Steve Jobs cuts back on instant messaging

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
A story claiming to reveal Apple chief executive Steve Jobs' recent lack of computer use has reignited speculation surrounding his health and the progress of his recovery.



In a Saturday column entitled "Where's Steve?", Robert X. Cringely cites one source and declares, "Steve Jobs has stopped using his computer."



A friend of mine has for years been one of Steve Jobs' Internet chat buddies. And as such his chat client has ? again for years ? shown as Steve came online each day and remained there for hours and hours as you'd expect a Silicon Valley mogul to do. And it's a trend that continued well past Jobs' announcement that he was taking a six-month leave of absence to get well. But then Steve started logging-on less and less. And several weeks ago he stopped logging-on at all.



Silence.

Cringely, which is the pen name of former InfoWorld and PBS columnist Mark Stephens, concludes that anyone who "actually expects Steve Jobs to return to Apple" will care about this latest revelation. According to Cringely's bio, "The sex symbol, airplane enthusiast and adventurer continues to write about personal computers and has an active consulting business in Silicon Valley, selling his cybersoul to the highest bidder."



He claims "the best and brightest" of the Valley "talk to him all the time," providing the information he uses in his reports. Cringely is also the author of a book called Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date. Jobs was the first name listed (followed by Bill Gates and Mitch Kapor) on the back cover of the book, published in 1996, in which Cringely predicted PCs would be "obsolete" by the year 2000 and "only software would survive."



Apple watchers responding to the author's assertion ? Jobs is not using a computer at all ? have quickly pointed out that "not logging on to chat doesn't necessarily mean any such thing," as Fortune reported on its Apple 2.0 blog. The same entry cautioned against drawing too many conclusions, noting that Jobs could merely be "concentrating on getting better."



The majority of commenters on Cringely's own site questioned his motives and reporting, to which Cringely responded, "[Y]es, he might have changed his chat name after many years, he might have disowned my source, might have done any of a number of other things mentioned BUT HE DIDN'T. You think I don't check these things out? I've had this for 10 days and wouldn't have published on a Saturday except it took that long to confirm."



Jobs, who celebrates his 54th birthday tomorrow, has been on a leave of absence since mid-January from the company he helped create. The Mac maker's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, is leading the company in his stead.



"In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June," Jobs wrote in a media advisory made public on January 14. In the wake of that announcement, rumors of shareholder lawsuits surfaced while other observers expressed confidence in the Cupertino-based company's interim leadership team.



As the annual shareholders' meeting on Wednesday approaches, Apple may once again have to face questions about the one executive who could still lead the discussion despite his absence.



In today's early trading, shares of AAPL have fallen 1.44 percent.
«13456

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 103
    Oh for the love of God.
  • Reply 2 of 103
    Leave the guy alone. Holy fuck!
  • Reply 3 of 103
    Hey, AppleInsider, 12th grade called and they want their gossip crown back!
  • Reply 4 of 103
    shaun, ukshaun, uk Posts: 1,050member
    Maybe Steve is not logging on so he doesn't have to read shite like this report!
  • Reply 5 of 103
    The man is on his death bed, so forgive him if he doesn't have time to chat.
  • Reply 6 of 103
    It figures. There is a short selling attack on the stock this morning. It is usually started after a lie or a rumor is leaked. What BS. Apple will post great earning s again this quarter. The "Shorts" have an easy time of it because Apple never defends it's stock or updates information. The Apple Board meets this week. They should do something for their real investors. Split the stock to reduce the multiple or do a buy back or dividend.
  • Reply 7 of 103
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BlackSummerNight View Post


    The man is on his death bed, so forgive him if he doesn't have time to chat.



    Unfortunately, that's the assumption being made by the gossip mongers.
  • Reply 8 of 103
    Perhaps, he should have mentioned it in his letter - that he would not be as frequent on his ichat as he used to be. It freaks the hell out of AI reporters...
  • Reply 9 of 103
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    1) I didn't realize that Cringely was going solo when he left PBS. I thought he was retiring altogether.



    2) Cringely hasn't had a viable article in years. His predictions are so far off I thought senility has set in early or he had gotten BSE. Which is why I thought he had retired altogether.



    3) Not using IMs as much may mean he has gotten healthier. Instead of not sitting in bed with a Mac on his lap, he is being active; perhaps with his family. My IM usage varies in such a way.



    4) Not seeing a user online could mean that they are using their other account or that they have blocked you since you're not really a friend if you are disclosing info about the frequency of your so called friend's IM usage. Perhaps Jobs got tired of this guy's loose lips.
  • Reply 10 of 103
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by siriusvector View Post


    Perhaps, he should have mentioned it in his letter - that he would not be as frequent on his ichat as he used to be. It freaks the hell out of AI reporters...



    I understand that point of view, but on the other hand I'd have to argue it freaks the hell out of Cringely which then annoys the hell out of many reporters. I'm with the majority of you, we have no idea what Mr. Jobs is going through or what he's up to on his computer. Some say that means organizations like AI shouldn't print it at all, but the way I see it, stories like this are trying to present both sides and provide a forum where that debate can be had out. Many other outlets, right or wrong, have taken a similar approach, but they don't have the informed community that we do. Thanks for all the thoughtful comments.



    And just to be clear, I'm speaking for myself here, not necessarily on behalf of AI.
  • Reply 11 of 103
    cameronjcameronj Posts: 2,357member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dshel View Post


    It figures. There is a short selling attack on the stock this morning. It is usually started after a lie or a rumor is leaked. What BS. Apple will post great earning s again this quarter. The "Shorts" have an easy time of it because Apple never defends it's stock or updates information. The Apple Board meets this week. They should do something for their real investors. Split the stock to reduce the multiple or do a buy back or dividend.



    Yikes, I hope you don't do your own investing...



    In case you were wondering what you did wrong - splitting a stock doesn't lower any multiple or change any meaningful number.
  • Reply 12 of 103
    Maybe he finally realized iChat doesn't work.
  • Reply 13 of 103
    cameronjcameronj Posts: 2,357member
    Sheesh - I'd hope he's off doing something more fun or healthy in his time off than sitting in front of a computer every day!
  • Reply 14 of 103
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    A story claiming to reveal Apple chief executive Steve Jobs' recent lack of computer use has reignited speculation surrounding his health and the progress of his recovery.



    In a Saturday column entitled "Where's Steve?", Robert X. Cringely cites one source and declares, "Steve Jobs has stopped using his computer."



    A friend of mine has for years been one of Steve Jobs' Internet chat buddies. And as such his chat client has – again for years – shown as Steve came online each day and remained there for hours and hours as you'd expect a Silicon Valley mogul to do. And it's a trend that continued well past Jobs' announcement that he was taking a six-month leave of absence to get well. But then Steve started logging-on less and less. And several weeks ago he stopped logging-on at all.



    Silence.

    Cringely, which is the pen name of former InfoWorld and PBS columnist Mark Stephens, concludes that anyone who "actually expects Steve Jobs to return to Apple" will care about this latest revelation. According to Cringely's bio, "The sex symbol, airplane enthusiast and adventurer continues to write about personal computers and has an active consulting business in Silicon Valley, selling his cybersoul to the highest bidder."



    He claims "the best and brightest" of the Valley "talk to him all the time," providing the information he uses in his reports. Cringely is also the author of a book called Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date. Jobs was the first name listed (followed by Bill Gates and Mitch Kapor) on the back cover of the book, published in 1996, in which Cringely predicted PCs would be "obsolete" by the year 2000 and "only software would survive."



    Apple watchers responding to the author's assertion – Jobs is not using a computer at all – have quickly pointed out that "not logging on to chat doesn't necessarily mean any such thing," as Fortune reported on its Apple 2.0 blog. The same entry cautioned against drawing too many conclusions, noting that Jobs could merely be "concentrating on getting better."



    The majority of commenters on Cringely's own site questioned his motives and reporting, to which Cringely responded, "[Y]es, he might have changed his chat name after many years, he might have disowned my source, might have done any of a number of other things mentioned BUT HE DIDN'T. You think I don't check these things out? I've had this for 10 days and wouldn't have published on a Saturday except it took that long to confirm."



    Jobs, who celebrates his 54th birthday tomorrow, has been on a leave of absence since mid-January from the company he helped create. The Mac maker's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, is leading the company in his stead.



    "In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June," Jobs wrote in a media advisory made public on January 14. In the wake of that announcement, rumors of shareholder lawsuits surfaced while other observers expressed confidence in the Cupertino-based company's interim leadership team.



    As the annual shareholders' meeting on Wednesday approaches, Apple may once again have to face questions about the one executive who could still lead the discussion despite his absence.



    In today's early trading, shares of AAPL have fallen 1.44 percent.



    Over at MacDailyNews, a commenter named "breeze" took issue with Cringely's post. He wrote:



    "Cringely - you idiot, I have two friends that have received emails from Jobs over the past few weeks. This took less than 10 minutes to confirm."



    Honestly AppleInsider, could we just give this gossip a rest?
  • Reply 15 of 103
    The sky is falling
  • Reply 16 of 103
    Here we go....more of this.



    It's amazing to me that even stockholders are so obsessed with Steve jobs that they forget about the rest of Apple's thousands of employees. The man was instrumental in reviving Apple upon his return, but he's not essential to the company.



    If Apple had competent management before Steve came back, they would have never needed him. It's not brain surgery to figure out that to sell computers at a ridiculously higher price than the competition, you have to hold yourself to ridiculous standards of style and simplicity. Apple in the 90s didn't figure out the simple concept that if you want to charge more for a product it has to be better!



    The people responsible for Apple's success are all under Steve Jobs, they just needed the demanding standards of someone like Steve Jobs (and probably needed NeXt's operating system even more). And really, now that he has demonstrated to his underlings how the company needs to be run, one of his VPs can easily take over. Phil Schiller may just be the next CEO of Apple.



    I mean come on he literally just finished treatment for cancer, you think he's gonna be back at 100% right away? Why the hell would he be on instant messenger if he's not doing any work at Apple right now?
  • Reply 17 of 103
    galleygalley Posts: 971member
    Steve is on a scientific expedition in Antarctica and will be "off the grid" for awhile.
  • Reply 18 of 103
    kasperkasper Posts: 941member, administrator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jonews50 View Post


    Honestly AppleInsider, could we just give this gossip a rest?



    Sure. All your comments have been heard, guys. Our apologies.



    K
  • Reply 19 of 103
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Perhaps not being at his regular work on a day to day basis requires less communications ... kind the whole point of taking a few months off to rest I would have thought!



    p.s. I heard a rumor that Steve Ballmer has an iPhone now and loves it.
  • Reply 20 of 103
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Lame lame lame



    I am MUCH more concerned with his daily attire. If the man has taken to wearing track pants it is sure sign he has 'given up' and is at death's door. Please, isn't there an upstanding serious investigative journalist out there who can supply photos? Track pants or not - a worthwhile subject of speculation and conjecture. WE NEED TO KNOW!
Sign In or Register to comment.