As something of a Macolyte myself, I would like to add that the majority of worry about Jobs’ health that I’ve seen in print, blogs or blog comments is either authoritative-sounding pronouncements by people who seem totally ignorant about what is publicly known of Job’s medical history or about pancreatic cancer itself; hysterical speculation; or me-too comments riding the coattails of such hysterical speculation.
I learned more than ever wanted to know about pancreatic cancer when my father was diagnosed with it. He subsequently died of it, but he had the common form of the disease. Jobs was diagnosed with the rarer form — the kind that is actually treatable with a reasonable expectation of success — and there seems to be relatively little reason to doubt his long-term survival.
That being said, I agree that it makes sense for Apple to have a transition plan in place. Even assuming that Jobs’ health is not a serious issue, it is true that he probably needs a bit more routine maintenance than most people. And with the added burden of running Pixar, it seems only logical that he should ease up on his involvement in Apple as he gets older. Deputing Phil Schiller to handle the MacWorld circus is a logical step in that regard.
