The health of Apple CEO Steve Jobs continues to grab headlines. Health and other personal matters are normally off-limits, but this is an unusual case. Jobs is the chief executive officer of one of the most influential publicly traded technology companies. He's not only a steward of Apple Inc, he's also the visionary who has personally guided many of its most successful products to market – often shaking up entire sectors of the technology industry in the process.

Some observers doubt that Apple or Jobs will become more transparent about his health. Silicon Alley Insider's Peter Kafka notes that Steve “previously didn't disclose his cancer for 9 months” when he originally suffered from pancreatic cancer in 2003.  Mr. Kafka goes on to say that Apple is unlikely to “quash the issue by issuing a comprehensive health report” because “Steve is unlikely to accept that level of public scrutiny.”

However, Andy Zaky of Seeking Alpha believes the recent speculation surrounding Mr. Jobs to be profits-driven hype:

"I for one believe some hedge fund(s) decided to manipulate Apple's stock price yesterday, and spread rumors about Steve Jobs’ questionable health (as if they're all physicians) via the New York Post article.  Otherwise, how does one explain the highly "coincidental" "concern" over Steve Jobs' health that is raised on the day Apple happens to report earnings?"

It is a common practice for publicly traded companies to disclose any material information on the health of their executives, although the timing and nature of the disclosure can vary significantly. There is no required timetable for making disclosures of this nature. However, a failure to do so could represent a violation of the fiduciary responsibilities that executives and their board of directors have to their shareholders. There are also major privacy issues that could impact the timing of such a disclosure.  And, Mr. Jobs is famously known to play by his own rules.

Prediction: Rampant speculation about Steve Jobs’ health and the ongoing concern from customers and investors will prompt Apple, Inc. or Jobs himself to officially announce that he has been found to be "healthy," and the pancreatic cancer diagnosed several years ago to be in complete remission.   This is a prediction that this type of announcement will be made public by December 31, 2008. This prediction will remain open through Friday, December 26, 2008.

Note: At The Standard, we are very aware of the sensitivities surrounding this topic.  We sincerely hope Mr. Jobs is indeed in good health, and do not want to pry into his private life.  Jobs is a hero to many in the technology and business worlds, and among Apple fans is credited for saving Apple from creative and financial ruin in the 1990s.