Steve Jobs is healthy, says famous dancer Woz

So how is Steve Jobs feeling now? His old Apple partner Steve Wozniak says he knows. In a special IT Blogwatch Extra, Richi Jennings watches bloggers and AAPL stockholders react to Woz's "revelations." Not to mention Panic's 50% off sale...

Ben Charny quotes some quotable quotes:

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said Steve Jobs sounds “healthy, energetic” a month before the CEO is expected to return to the company ... said Mr. Jobs “doesn’t sound like he’s sick,” nor did he seem to be in a health crisis.
...
Mr. Jobs, one of the highest-profile CEOs in the tech sector, went on medical leave in January, saying in a letter to employees that his health issues “are more complex than I originally thought.” His health has been a subject of widespread speculation.

Paul Boutin knows it's true:

If Woz weren’t such a notorious wonk and a bad liar, I wouldn’t believe him.

I do, but most people won’t.

Ed Oswald hopes it's true, but there's a "but":

Woz’s straight shooting about anything Apple leads me to believe that he wouldn’t be B.S.’ing us. Maybe the time off did Jobs well — after all, as sick as the iconic CEO has been at times over the years, running a company was probably not helping him get any better.
...
There is a caveat to Woz’s statements: he never has asked Jobs directly how he’s feeling. But given he’s known the man for almost four decades, you’d think he would have a good read.

Ryan Tate runs the numbers:

Perhaps it's no surprise that traders didn't take the ballroom-dancing computer engineer's medical evaluation too seriously; in the two hours after Woz's quote was published, Apple shares traded basically sideways.

Pete Cashmore's not convinced, either:

Woz’s testimony ... isn’t exactly watertight. ... This really gets us no closer to understanding whether Apple’s charismatic leader is fighting fit or simply giving the outside appearance of it.

We’ll know the answer next month: perhaps with a cameo appearance at the upcoming WWDC conference, or simply his scheduled return to work.

Dan Frommer wonders if it all really matters:

We should find out more in a few weeks at Apple's WWDC conference. If Jobs is healthy enough to appear on stage, even for a curtain call, that's very good news. If he comes back in late June, that's also fine. If he retires, that's less fine.

Apple does not necessarily need Jobs for its short-term product rollouts. ... But the concern is that even with great leadership, Apple will be weaker if Jobs retires, because he is the visionary who makes even the tiniest final decisions about Apple products.

So what's your take? Get involved and leave a comment.

And finally...

• Panic's 50% off sale
  [hat tip: Andy Baio]

Previously in IT Blogwatch:

• Steve Jobs is "offline"
• Android to dethrone iPhone?
• Skyfire: a better handheld browser?
• iPhone/iPod rumors fly pre-WWDC
• BOOM-BOOM: Hubble Shuttle's supersonic return
• Google Chrome 2.0: faster, but feature-poor
• ...more

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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 on Twitter or FriendFeed, pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, or just use boring old email: contact Richi.