Steve Jobs Takes Medical Leave of Absence from Apple

On Monday, CNN reported that Apple CEO Steve Jobs will be taking a medical leave of absence from the company, citing concerns for his health. Steve Jobs co-founded of the Apple Computer Company, along with Mike Markkula, and Steve Wozniak. Steve jobs has been battling a rare form of pancreatic cancer since 2004.

The run up in stock price over the past couple of years for Apple has largely been due to products that were introduced during Steve Job's tenure at Apple. The resurgence of the Mac computer, along with the introduction of iPods, iPhones, and iPads, have allowed Apple, Inc. to post nearly record breaking sales figures nearly every quarter over the past five years. The market capitalization of Apple, Inc. has grown to over $320 Billion, making Apple, Inc. one of the largest companies in the world. Much of this success have been attributed to Steve Jobs' vision in creating products with a certain 'coolness' factor.

Will Apple, Inc. Stock Price Fall?
Steve Jobs recent medical leave of absence may make Apple stock holders jittery, since much of Apple's success has been attributed to products and concepts that were created by Steve Jobs. With his absence there may be concerns that there will be a mass sell off of Apple Stock.

While there may be a short term sell off in Apple stock due to any absence by Jobs, the long term future of the company still looks bright. If one takes a look at Apple's balance sheet, they will note that Apple is still carrying over $25 billion in cash and short term investments in their back account. This is money that is just waiting to be poured into further research and development, or to make acquisitions that will continue to help Apples' bottom line.

If spent wisely, this money could be used to create newer and more innovative products from Apple. They key factor is that the money must be used wisely. Apple has taken a lot of flack over not offering its stock holders any quarterly dividend for the huge pile of cash that they are sitting on. Perhaps, Apple is keeping hold of the cash in case it is needed in case of any absence by Jobs.

Who will replace Steve Jobs?
There several employees already working within Apple, Inc. that may already be ready to step in a take the reigns from Steve Jobs. They include Phil Schiller,johnny Ive,Scott Forstall, and possibly Bob Mansfield. One must also not forget Timothy Cook, who essentially has been running the Apple operation for 12 years. Each of these figures have served prominently on Apple promotional videos and marketing material during recent product launches.

Phil Schiller leads the product marketing team of Apple, and may stand in position to take over from Steve Jobs. The others, like John Ive, Bob Mansfield, and Scott Forstall, have more technical backgrounds, and have served as the backbone of developing and designing Apple products. Ive was instrumental in the redesign of the Mac and hardware design of the iPad. Bob Mansfield has also had an instrumental hand in leading Mac development in recent years.

Scott Forstall specialty is software. Forstall was instrumental in developing OSX, and was instrumental in leading the effort to create the intuitive iOS that has been so prominent in the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad.

An individual that has taken a more low key approach to running the Apple, Inc. is Timothy Cook. Cook is the Chief Operating Officer for the company. He has been with the company for 12 years, and was in the position when Steve Jobs returned to Apple when it started its run on the stock market. He oversees much of the day to day operations of the company, how products are designed, and how they are marketed to consumers. It may be time for Cook to step out into the limelight and lead Apple.

Other Sources:
Apple.com
Wikipedia

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