Six months and two major product releases later, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs is back. The black turtleneck-wearing icon will attend Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on Monday following a medical leave taken since January.
Not only will Jobs return to the stage, but he will do so to introduce the next major evolution of Apple’s media business, iCloud. The service will let users store music purchased from iTunes on Apple’s servers, allowing them to access it from their iPhone, iPad, or MacBook without having to access a hard drive or other solid memory source.
As always, the company’s developers conference is very much about Apple’s future — how it will evolve its successful digital retail business as technology moves forward, and how it will further differentiate its computers and handheld devices from its competitors Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG). This is why it was essential that Jobs not only attend the conference, but that he is center stage for the event.
For better or worse, Jobs remains the face of Apple’s brand to consumers and its massive financial success to investors.
It’s easy to forget how integral Jobs is to the continuing success of Apple as both a business and trendsetter. When he announced that he would take a six-month leave of absence from the company due to health concerns, Apple shares dropped 3%. While that’s hardly a dip that would send into a rabid froth, others maintain that Jobs’ continual health concerns have contributed to the stock being undervalued.
Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook has certainly done an admirable job in Jobs’ absence, successfully bringing both the Verizon (NYSE:VZ) iPhone to market in February and the second-generation iPad in March.
In fact, investors should take especial note of how the company performed during Jobs’ absence. The plans for the Verizon partnership were well in place before Jobs’ sabbatical began, but that doesn’t change the fact that Apple hit at an all-time high of almost $365 in February. As of the time of this writing, Apple is trading just north of $347, exactly where the stock was before Jobs revealed his health problems in January.
The short period of time demonstrated how Apple is able to survive without its captain at the helm. It was, however, too short a time to get a sense of how the company will perform when it enters an era free of Jobs’ long-term planning. Investors don’t have to worry about that scenario just yet, but what will happen to Apple post-Steve Jobs is still very much an unknown.
As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter at @ajohnagnello and become a fan of InvestorPlace on Facebook.
