Sam Diaz writes on ZDnet:
Steve Jobs dropped a bombshell of an announcement yesterday when he revealed that his medical condition was more complex than he’d previously known and that he was leaving his post as Apple CEO through the end of June so he could focus on his health. The announcement, in the form of an e-mailed letter from Jobs to employees, was pretty vague about his condition, offering few details and prompting Apple-watchers to raise a whole new set of questions about Apple, Jobs and this “more complex†medical condition.
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Apple, as expected, has no official comment beyond Jobs’ letter. But is that the right call? After all, it’s not really a private matter anymore, is it? Steve’s health is creating a potential impact on the company itself. Shares dropped as much as 10 percent in after-hours trading after the announcement but recovered to about a 7 percent dip. And today, traders around the globe have been and will be watching AAPL all day. Charlie Wolf, a financial analyst with Needham & Co., said in the Wall Street Journal article that the “Steve Jobs health†factor could cause the stock to fall an additional 10% to 15%.
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Like I wrote above, I don’t know which is more important – Steve Jobs’ right to privacy or the public’s right to know. If it were someone in my family, I’d want everyone to leave us alone and let us deal with it. But as a career journalist, I’ve been trained to drill in for detail and to always ask follow-up questions to give readers what they really want - the details.
So what do you think? Cast a vote and chime into the discussion if you’d like.
Comment: when I read the article, I checked the poll results. This is not a scientific poll, obviously, but I thought it was interesting that for 263 respondents, 78% viewed his privacy as more important that the public’s right to know.