Still in the dark on Steve Jobs

Last month, I did a blog entry slagging off at the Apple board and its total failure of corporate governance, keeping shareholders in the dark about Steve Jobs, his health and the likelihood or otherwise of him staying at the company.

If nothing else, the board confirmed its ineptitude at the firm's annual shareholders meeting. As Reuters reports, the board just said Jobs remained deeply involved with the company, without spelling out exactly how, and refused to answer questions about reports that the US Securities and Exchange Commission was examining Apple's conduct in disclosing Jobs' health problems.

That's not to say shareholders seem to care that much. According to that report, they even sang "Happy Birthday" for the boy who turned 54 this week.

Still, they should be concerned. As David Coursey at PCWorld says, Steve Jobs is unlikely to return to Apple. He was more or less sending that signal by skipping the shareholders' meeting. And that, as Coursey says, raises questions about Apple's future. "As long as Steve Jobs can read a memo or look at designs and say, "this one, not that one," Apple is remains in good hands. But, we have already seen what happens when Apple loses i(t)s vision. When that happens, as it eventually must, its not clear Apple's creative culture will be able to pick up where one man's vision leaves off."