Apparently, yesterday the Bloomberg financial news service
has decided to revise its obituary of Steve Jobs, Apple CEO. Unfortunately, due
to an error, the report was sent to the external wire service.
Bloomberg was very quick to retract it and in less than a
minute, the obituary was replaced with a retraction.
"An incomplete story referencing Apple Inc. was
inadvertently published by Bloomberg News at 4:27 p.m. New York time today," the retraction
read. "The item was never meant for publication and has been
retracted."
Although the obituary was retracted, the Gawker blog was
quick to save the 17-page Steve Jobs obituary and publish it.
The health of charismatic Apple CEO has become a
controversial subject in the past months. The first rumors have appeared in
June, after Steve Jobs’ speech at WWDC.
After his speech, some major news sites and various blogs
have commented about Job’s physical appearance. Apple’s CEO appears to have
lost some weight and he looked a little pale.
Apple was quick to downplay the rumors and speculations
regarding Steve Jobs’ health. The company has issued a statement saying that he
was affected by “a common bug”. Apple’s spokesperson noted that he had received
antibiotics as treatment and is now recovering.
Jobs’ health made again headlines last month after quoting
an unnamed Wall Street source, the New York Post said that Apple's hedge fund
investors are very worried after Steve Jobs appearance at WWDC.
The New York Post noted also that other people who have met
with Jobs in the weeks surrounding the introduction of the iPhone 3G on July
11, said they came away troubled by his thin appearance.
Jobs’ health is a reason of concern, because he was
diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in October 2003, but Apple did not announce
the illness until nine months later, in July next year. Jobs underwent a
successful surgery in August 2004.
Jobs is considered by many analysts as the man who saved
Apple, after he returned to the company in 1996. Jobs, who co-founded Apple,
resigned in 1985. But he returned as CEO when Apple bought his company, NeXT.
He became Apple’s permanent CEO in 2000.
Since his return, Steve Jobs has been involved in all Apple
major achievements such as the launch of iPod and iTunes and the company’s
transition to Intel-powered Macs. In 2006, after another speech also at WWDC,
several news sites reported that Jobs has health problems, but Apple dismissed
the information as rumors.
In late July the tech columnist Joe Nocera from The New York
Times said he has spoken off-the-record with Steve Jobs. Nocera did not
disclose any details about their conversation, but he said that “his [Jobs]
health problems amounted to a good deal more than "a common bug,"
they weren't life-threatening and he doesn't have a recurrence of cancer."