Jobs on track for return

Steve Jobs should be set to return to full CEO duties with Apple later this month, sources say. The executive has been on medical leave since January, as a result of an unspecified "hormonal imbalance" that led to severe weight loss. Some investors have expressed concern that Jobs might never return, in part because he is a survivor of pancreatic cancer; a recurrence of the disease has been considered a possibility.

Although Apple has refused to provide updates for the public, one Wall Street Journal source says that directors have privately received weekly updates from Jobs' physician. The CEO's health is "coming along," the source claims, also adding that he or she has seen Jobs in person in the past few weeks. "He was one real sick guy," the source notes. "Fundamentally he was starving to death over a nine-month period. He couldn't digest protein. He took corrective action."

Another source backs incidental rumors that Jobs has occasionally appeared at Apple headquarters. Less certain is whether he may make a cameo at Monday's WWDC keynote, which will be headed by marketing chief Phil Schiller. Two people who have conducted business with Apple say that senior managers are attempting to organize a formal return, coinciding with a product launch or some other public event.

by MacNN Staff