Amidst Medical Leave, Steve Jobs Takes The Stage At iPad 2 Event To A Standing Ovation

Leena Rao

Leena Rao is currently a Senior Editor for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was... → Learn More

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

At today’s iPad 2 press event, Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the stage, surprising attendees. Jobs, who has been on medical leave since early January, unsurprisingly received a standing ovation. He told the audience, “We’ve been working on this project for a while, and I just didn’t want to miss this.”

Apple and Jobs announced that he would be taking medical leave on January, with COO Tim Cook taking over the day to day operations for the company. While it’s been unclear what Jobs’ health issues are, his previous medical history includes Pancreatic cancer as well as a liver transplant. In 2004, Jobs contracted Pancreatic Cancer, which he beat. Then Jobs underwent a liver transplant in 2009, and also made a full recovery.

Jobs is usually a fixture at Apple product events and announcement but it was unclear if he would make it to this one considering the recent turn of events in his personal life. It was assumed that either Cook or Apple’s head of design Jonathan Ive would be presenting today but it’s great to see Jobs back in action and on stage.

Company: Apple
Website: apple.com
Launch Date: April 1, 1976
IPO: NASDAQ:AAPL

Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook Air) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod, the...

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