In summer 2008 I read a rather commercial book about the founder of Apple; Steve Jobs. The bio is named The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business. I found the book pretty entertaining and realized how great/crazy a businessman/marketing man Steve Jobs is.

He founded Apple Computers and when Apple - 10 years ago were suffering from decreasing sale and bad products Steve came back and turned the whole business around. The rest is history (iMac, iPod, iPhone, iTunes etc). Apple has never been in better shape than today and in spite of worldwide financial crises Apple is still going strong.

But the success is probably coming to an end! Steve Jobs is sick though he was cured from cancer in 2004. At this years Macworld Steve did not deliver the - after all - rather famous keynote concerning new innovative Apple products. He lost too much weight because of his sickness.

Yesterday it was announced that Steve is going to "take a break" as CEO. I guess Steve is indispensable at Apple..and I believe that Apple is going to suffer great from Steve's absence. I cannot think of any company where the CEO is that important. Fingers crossed that he will return in fine shape. Read more on this subject on the website of Wired.

Here is what Steve announced yesterday:

January 14, 2009

Apple Media Advisory

Apple CEO Steve Jobs today sent the following email to all Apple employees:

Team,

I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.

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.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.

I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.

Steve

Steve Jobs delevering a keynote years ago