Frailty curses even billionaires

Even his competitors should regret that Steve Jobs is taking another leave of absence as chief executive of Apple Inc.

Jobs hasn't just made Apple the world's most valuable technology company - one whose stock is worth $321 billion. He's also helped transform culture, changing the way we buy and listen to music, how we interact with a computer, and increasingly, how we read. These innovations have opened new vistas for Apple customers, and vast new moneymaking opportunities for other tech companies.

Sadly, Jobs has battled health problems for years. Has he or his notoriously secretive company been sufficiently forthcoming about them? Probably not. But the law is vague on just how much a public company has to tell the world, even concerning an individual as crucial to a company as this one. And even chief executives are entitled to a little privacy.

By any standard, Apple's 55-year-old billionaire CEO is a big success, yet his medical odyssey reminds us that fortune and fame mean little without good health.

That's one thing Jobs has rarely had. He's survived pancreatic cancer, which is so often deadly, and a liver transplant. Jobs hasn't said when he'll return to work, but Apple fans and investors hope he bounces back fast. So do we. Now if only there were an app for that. hN