Apples Poor Communication Regarding CEO Steve Jobs Health

What happened?
Apple CEO Steve Jobs had cancer in 2004
He had surgery to remove the tumor; deemed

successful In August 2006, Jobs appeared unhealthy at the WWDC Speculation of a recurrence begins

Apples Response
Katie Cotton, VP of Worldwide Corporate

Communications, responded to inquires stating, Steves health is robust and we have no ideas where these rumors are coming from (Claburn, 2006) Speculation continued, but began to diminish Until

2008 Worldwide Developer Conference

June 9, 2008 WWDC, Jobs appeared looking gaunt

again, refueling debate of his health

2008 Worldwide Developer Conference

2008 Worldwide Developer Conference

2008 Worldwide Developer Conference

Apples Response
His appearance is the result of a common bug

(Krazit, 2009)
Obviously this didnt satisfy peoples concerns

January 2009
Jobs emails employees claiming he is suffering from a

protein deficiency He also says that he has already begun treatment, and that it is very simple
January 14, Jobs announces his health problems are

more serious than originally believed, and that he would be taking a leave of absence until June 2009 (Krazit, 2009)

Is this affecting Apples Reputation?

When Jobs announced his leave of absence, Apple

shares dropped 10.8% This is evident of his enormous importance to the company Apple is Steve Jobs, and Steve Jobs is Apple

Is Jobs Health a Private Matter?

Steve Wozniak, Apple Co-founder speaks about Jobs

health
Investors need to know about his health because he

has such an impact on the company He has chosen to be the image of the company, and therefore has taken on this responsibility http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uADE-gbsxGg

Steve Jobs IS Apple!

WWDC 2008 Steve Jobs Keynote
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGY28Qbj76A

Apple Failed
Inaction has led to much speculation, only further

perpetuating concerns of Jobs health. Poor media relations have resulted in an upset media, frustrated with the lack of available information Inconsistencies have created a lack of trust in the media, something Apple has always been bad about The constant speculation in the media has created dissonance in investors, leading to stock fluctuations

How much will this hurt Apple?

We will have to wait to see
Even though they did a poor job, the Apple brand is

extremely resilient, and the stock is doing well.

Apple Today
Apples stock is currently sitting at $133 (AAPL)
The stock bottomed out at about $80 This is harder to judge due to the overall state of the

economy That being said, Apple is outperforming their competitors, and it appears the brand will be rather unharmed

Apple Today
There is no doubt that Steve Jobs is still very active in

big decisions like product development He is due back in June This timing is perfect for him to announce a new product There is growing speculation, becoming close to certainty, that a new iPhone will be released this summer.

Summary
I think Apple did (and continues to do) a terrible job

of handling this PR incident I dont think it will have a lasting impact the brand is too strong
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said it best, Apple

investors need to look at the big picture. They need to look at the new products, the balance sheet this is a storm that will pass, (Kawamoto Apple, 2009)

References
Krazit, T. (2009, January 5). Steve Jobs' health now a public

matter | Apple - CNET News. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from http://news.cnet.com/steve-jobs-health-now-a-public-matter/ Kawamoto, D. (2009, January 14). Apple shares plummet on news of Jobs' medical leave | Apple - CNET News. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-1014300037.html?tag=mncol Claburn, T. (2006, August 11). Steve Jobs Lives! - Digital Life Blog InformationWeek. Retrieved April 8, 2009, from http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2006/08 /steve_jobs_live.html AAPL - Apple Inc. - Google Finance. (n.d.). Retrieved April 6, 2009, from http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NASDAQ:AAPL