Steve Jobs returns to Apple job -- whence iPhone 4G

Steve Jobs is back at work on the Apple Cupertino campus, in part to guide iPhone 4G development. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers debate the significance of his return to Infinite Loop.

Richi Jennings is your humble blogwatcher: he has selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention a list of Konami-code sites...

Kicking us off today, it's Jacqui Cheng:

Apple has confirmed that Steve Jobs is back at work on a somewhat reduced schedule. Jobs is now working on Apple's campus for a few days per week and making up the rest of the time while working from home.
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Apple had stated earlier this month that the CEO was still expected to make a timely return at the end of June, despite months of speculation that Jobs might not ever come back. We're glad that Jobs has managed to prove the rumor mill wrong this time around, though COO Tim Cook has proven himself quite capable of running the ship in Jobs' absence.

Next, Erick Schonfeld asks what it all means:

Steve Jobs is officially back at work, according to Apple PR. Even though he had a liver transplant earlier this year, a detail which was leaked to the Wall Street Journal and conveniently reported on a Friday night after the markets had closed.
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What is all of this messaging about? When Jobs took his medical leave of absence in January, he said he would return by June 30. This is Apple’s way of telling investors that he kept to that deadline despite the seriousness of his operation. The official story is that he is back, even if only part-time. But honestly, if he took another six months, would anyone blame him?

Our mate, Ryan Tate, has a deep throat:

Apple won't say whether Steve Jobs was at the office today as part of his official return to the company. But a Valleywag spy spotted the CEO on his company's Cupertino campus. Jobs apparently left early.
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Earlier today, Apple declined to tell Bloomberg News whether Jobs was on campus. The company had good reason to avoid such a discussion: Entertaining that line of questioning might have led to a discussion of Jobs' itinerary and unwelcome question about why the CEO had to leave early, and about his health. More practically, it also would open the company up to endless questions from reporters about where Jobs is on campus that day. Of course, there's a good chance Apple is going to be getting those queries anyway, whether it answers them or not.

Comparing Jobs to Bill Gates, it's Stuart Miles:

The return of Jobs as promised, is likely to be a relief to stock holders who were, it seems, starting to get worried that the visionary wasn't at the helm.
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It is not sure though how long Steve Jobs will last in his postion with some experts suggesting that his reign at the company as CEO will be shortly over perhaps taking on a chairman or more "senior architect" role similar to Bill Gates at Microsoft before he finally stepped down from the company last year.

And Dean Takahashi dreams of insectitude: [Is that even a word? -Ed.]

This is one of those days when I’d love to be a fly on the wall at the secretive Cupertino company, which has mastered the art of operating in stealth.
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How many other CEOs can make the news just by going to work?.

Meanwhile, Harry McCracken asks the big questions:

Others will blog (endlessly) about Jobs’ health, how many hours a week he’s really putting in, questions of shareholder disclosure, etc., etc., etc., etc. I have only one question: When will we next see a Steve Jobs keynote? Maybe soon; maybe not so soon. And maybe never, although I have no reason to think he’s done with them, and I certainly hope he isn’t.
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I’m a bystander, not an Apple cheerleader. But I’m in favor of the tech world being interesting, and it would be a more boring place without Jobs keynotes.

In case you hadn't noticed, Dan "fakesteve" Lyons is back, too:

Palm, which has reinvented itself with a business model that basically involves doing whatever Apple does, only two years later, announced today that its CEO, Jon Rubinstein, is planning to receive a liver transplant. No official date -- they just say it will happen sometime in the next 12 to 18 months.

Palm says Rubinstein's liver will have features that my liver lacks, though they won't say what those features are. Meanwhile Roger McNamee has been posting Facebook updates saying he has seen a working prototype of Ruby's liver and it totally blows my liver away. Just like the Pre blows away the iPhone, right?

So, fanboi or not, what's your take?
Get involved: leave a comment.

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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 24 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You can follow him as @richi on Twitter or richij on FriendFeed, pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itblogwatch@richij.com.