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Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs is once again taking indefinite leave from the company he co-founded to deal with personal medical issues, a move that puts pressure on the company's stock price and raises fresh questions about whether Apple's saviour and most influential executive is finally leaving the company for good.

Just one day before Apple is set to release its 2011 first-quarter results, the company made public a letter Mr. Jobs sent to all Apple employees, informing them that the board of directors has granted him medical leave to focus on his health.

"I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company," Mr. Jobs wrote, adding that he has asked Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, to take over day-to-day operations.

"I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011," Mr. Jobs said.

"I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy."

For decades, Mr. Jobs has been the public face of Apple, his personality intertwined with its success more closely than perhaps any other CEO and company. His name is listed on hundreds of patents, some of which, such as those related to touch-screen technology, are of huge importance to Apple. He is also the company's de facto Salesman-In-Chief, and his charisma has been one of the biggest drivers of Apple's products from mere gadgets to cultural status symbols. Indeed, his appearance at Apple product unveilings has become the subject of as much speculation as the products themselves, and his habit of occasionally writing back personally to customers has inspired both ridicule and praise.

But perhaps most importantly, he is known to have played a hands-on role in virtually every minute aspect of products such as the iPad and iPhone, demanding perfection from his designers and engineers. Investors need only look to the three other CEOs who ran the company during Mr. Jobs' forced hiatus in the mid-90s for proof that virtually nobody else has had much success running Apple.

As such, news of his departure had an immediate and negative effect on Apple's stock price. Although stock markets in the U.S. were closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Apple shares dropped sharply in Europe on word of Mr. Jobs' announcement. Apple's announcement seemed deliberately timed to minimize such a reaction, coming on a day U.S. markets were closed, and one day before the company is expected to post its best quarter ever.

"I am not sure that anyone else in the industry has Mr. Jobs' charisma and I can see why industry watchers are uncomfortable with the idea that his absence might be concerning," said Carolina Milanesi, Gartner's vice-president of research for consumer technologies and markets.

"But all the good people who work at Apple will remain there and continue to work to deliver the kind of quality and innovation expected from them."

This isn't the first time Mr. Jobs' health has kept him away from Apple. In 2004, he was diagnosed with a form of pancreatic cancer. In that case, Mr. Cook also took over the daily operations at Apple while the CEO took a leave of absence for treatment. In early 2009, after myriad rumours about the state of his health, Mr. Jobs told Apple employees he would take another leave for what eventually turned out to be a liver transplant (he once again pegged Mr. Cook for daily CEO duties).

In previous cases, Apple has sought to minimize Mr. Jobs' health issues. On one famous occasion in 2008, Apple spokespeople responded to questions about the CEO's gaunt appearance by saying he was suffering from "a common bug."

But the nature of Mr. Jobs' most recent leave has raised questions as to whether this differs from previous cases. In 2009, the CEO gave a definite timeline - six months - for his return to Apple. Monday's letter contained no such timeline.

"I think it's the last time," that Mr. Jobs will step down from the company's top spot, said Kenneth Wong, associate professor at Queen's University School of Business and an expert on high-tech marketing. "If I was Jobs' age, having accomplished what he's accomplished, with his money and health situation, one has to question, why [stay on as CEO] His legacy is assured."

Senior succession at Apple has never been one of the company's strong suits. That's in large part because the company is still run by one of the men who founded it, and no CEO change at Apple has been entirely bloodless.

Beginning in the late 1980s - when Mr. Jobs was effectively ousted from the company - and lasting a decade, Apple suffered through three CEOs who failed to revive the company's fortunes, and each was successively kicked out until Mr. Jobs returned.

In addition, Mr. Jobs, 55, is not old by CEO standards. Companies such as Berkshire Hathaway Inc. are often praised for having a robust succession strategy - but Warren Buffett is 35 years older than Mr. Jobs. That's perhaps why some investors were willing to give Apple a pass on its secretive response when Mr. Jobs' health issues first surfaced. However, that may not be the case now that the CEO is taking his third medical leave in less than seven years.

"I don't know that Apple has ever had strong succession planning, going back to [Jobs']original departure," Prof. Wong said. "Right or wrong, Steve Jobs is seen by many people - some of them uninformed people - as the essence of what Apple is. His presence or absence has a direct impact on the retail price of that stock."

It was only after Mr. Jobs' return in 1997 that Apple entered what would, over the next 13 years, come to be known as the company's golden age. Thanks to the launch of iPods, iPhones and iPads, as well as a resurgence in Macintosh computer sales, Apple eventually overtook Microsoft as the world's most valuable technology firm.

With his legacy assured, Mr. Jobs has few financial reasons to remain as CEO. Forbes estimates his net worth at more than $6-billion (U.S.), and he draws a yearly salary of $1 from Apple.

Mr. Cook, who drew widespread praise in the past for running Apple while Mr. Jobs was away, was paid more than $60-million last year.

Indeed, Mr. Cook's appointment as day-to-day caretaker during Mr. Jobs' illnesses is perhaps the best clue as to who is next in line to run Apple.

"I think they're going to make this introduction inch by inch, maybe even try to spread out the publicity over a while," said Prof. Wong. "I think they're going to let stock prices dictate how much they disclose."

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