Apple's Jobs has hormone imbalance, will stay as CEO

San Fransisco, Jan 6: Apple Inc founder Steve Jobs, who is suffering from pancreatic cancer said on Monday, Jan 5 that he has an easily treated 'hormone imbalance' and he will remain in charge of the company.

The news sent Apple stock up more than 4 percent on a down day for much of the market. As the CEO's health is an important issue for any company, but especially for Apple, where Jobs has presided over a decade of huge success. His mix of secrecy and high-design principles, seen in the rollouts of new Mac computers, the iPod music player and the iPhone, has become a trademark.

Doctors who conducted 'sophisticated blood tests' confirmed that he has ' a hormone imbalance'. "The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I've already begun treatment," he wrote in a Public letter. "Just like I didn't lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this spring to regain it."

Jobs, who co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak in 1976 at the dawn of the personal computer revolution, left in 1985 and returned as CEO in 1997, slashing unprofitable product lines and helping rescue the company from financial ruin.

Jobs, 53, in a letter to the 'Apple Community', said his recent weight loss and decision not to give the keynote presentation on Tuesday morning set off a 'flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed."

"I've decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow," said Jobs, co-founder of the California company behind the Macintosh computer, iPhone and iPod.

Jobs announced in 2004 that he had undergone successful surgery to treat a very rare form of pancreatic cancer — an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor. The cancer is easily cured if diagnosed early. Jobs did not have a deadlier and more common form of pancreatic cancer called adenocarcinoma.

Even so, fears that Apple would lose his leadership percolated in 2008 as Jobs appeared pale, worn and notably thinner in the face. Apple said he was suffering from a common bug, but The New York Times cited anonymous sources who said Jobs had undergone "a surgical procedure" to address the problem that had caused him to lose weight.

Worries about Jobs intensified after Apple said in Dec, 2007 that he would not make his annual keynote address on Tuesday, Jan 6 at the Macworld conference in San Francisco. It was at Macworld in 2007 that Jobs introduced the iPhone.

OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)