As promised, Steve's medical leave ended with the month of June. Last January, Apple announced that CEO Steve Jobs would take a leave of absense to deal with medical issues for approximately six months. Since then, we've learned that Steve had a liver transplant and today Apple confirmed his return.

"Steve Jobs is back to work. He is at Apple a few days a week and working from home the other days," Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said. "We're glad to have him back."

That's great news for the company and, more importantly, for Steve himself. There has been much noise about Steve during the past six months, including Apple's future without him, who might take over and the company's obligation to keep investors informed about the health of their CEO. Here's hoping the din dies down and that Steve continues to enjoy a long and productive career at Apple.

Late last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Steve Jobs had a liver transplant in April. As of this morning, however, we still hadn't received confirmation from either Apple or any of the hospitals at which the procedure might have been performed. That's changed. Earlier today, Methodist University Hospital in Memphis released a statement confirming the surgery, with Steve's permission:

"I am pleased to confirm today, with the patient's permission, that Steve Jobs received a liver transplant at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in partnership with the University of Tennessee in Memphis ... Our one-year patient and graft survival rates are among the best in the nation and were a dominant reason in Mr. Jobs's choice of transplant centers."

James D. Eason, M.D., Program Director at Methodist University Hospital's Transplant Institute, composed the statement and explained that Steve went through the typical transplant eligibility process; in order to receive a donor liver, he had to be the sickest person on the list when the matching organ became available.

This statement stands in contrast to the theories considered in today's New York Times piece about Steve's surgery, which noted that past preferential treatment for celebrities and wealthy patients has largely been ended but there are still ways in which someone with Jobs's resources could try to game the system. The Memphis transplant center has one of the shortest waiting periods in the US for liver patients.

Let us extend a "Well done" to the medical team and "Speedy recovery" to Steve.

In its sometime role as a broadsheet hybrid of Us magazine and the New England Journal of Medicine, we have an update tonight from The Wall Street Journal on the condition of everyone's favorite iCEO. Steve Jobs, according to the story (subscription required on the web, free to read on your iPhone), is recovered from his health crisis and on track to return by the end of June. While some speculate that he might choose to surprise the audience at WWDC with a One More Thing moment, two sources for the WSJ story say that the plan is to wait a bit longer.

Steve's return is likely to be coordinated with a product launch or other public event later in June, say the sources. That event probably won't be the announcement of the next-gen iPhone, which the paper pinpoints for the keynote address on Monday with availability close to the two-year anniversary date for the original iPhone purchasers (pretty sensible; anyone who bought a first-gen for the premium price is a likely candidate to shell out for a replacement). The WSJ cites someone who has seen the new phone in person, reporting a faster processor and the expected video editing capabilities.

Equally importantly, the story points out that the long Steveless months with Tim Cook at the helm have shown investors and customers that the Apple train is still on track. AAPL is up 68% since Steve announced his leave of absence in January, vs. a 24% uptick for the NASDAQ index. Granted, Apple stock took a bit of a hit around the announcement of the leave, dipping to a low of 78.20 on 1/20, but it's up at 143.74 as of today's close.

[via Macrumors]

This might be obvious to most of us, but the WSJ feels it's fit to print: while Steve Jobs' reimbursed budget for his private jet has been fairly considerable over the past year or so -- $580,000 for a six-month period a year ago and $30,000 during a quarter period, the past few reports have seen the budget much, much lower. For the first three months of this year they didn't pay him at all, and for the previous six months before that they've only reimbursed him for $4,000.

What does this mean? Nothing, really -- while the WSJ points to it as evidence Jobs hasn't been traveling overseas to help bring the iPhone to China and carry out other big Apple deals, we've already known that Jobs wasn't involved much in the day-to-day business anyway; besides, it's hard to recuperate at home and fly around the world simultaneously. There are lots of other reasons for the budget to be down -- that $580,000 period would have been right around the manufacturing point of the iPhone 3G, and since most of the focus lately is on software, it's not like Jobs needs to be jetsetting off exotic plants to make sure production is on schedule.

And of course gas prices are back down quite a bit, and companies are under a little more scrutiny and pressure in this economy, so teleconferencing may be just as good as a plane ticket these days. Apple is still saying Jobs is expected back in June, and though these plane figures are interesting, the fact that Apple is still confident of his return says more about the company's future.

Today is Easter for those of you celebrating around the world, and what better way to celebrate than with Peeps? Specifically Peeps attending an Apple event -- these guys were made by Sarah Kohari and Erin Mastrangelo of Washington, and are part of the Washington Post's yearly Peeps diorama contest. This one is number 38, and they also made number 39 as well.

We like it, obviously, especially the little Steve Jobs peep, as well as the iPeep nanos (in, apparently, all of the different colors Peeps come in). Happy Easter to everyone -- may you have candy and chocolate of all kinds (if that's what you're looking for today), and may all of your egg finding go well.

It seems that Hollywood is beginning to miss Steve Jobs almost as much as we are. This is especially true for two of NBC's hit comedy shows; "30 Rock" and "Chuck." Both were new this week and overflowing with appreciation for Stevie J.

For most Apple fans it is easy to spot when many TV shows and movies feature Apple gear. The most recent episodes of "30 Rock" and "Chuck," however, go above and beyond featuring a shameless homage to the man himself, Steve Jobs -- in 30 Rock's case, doing a great take on a worldchanging Apple announcement from the not-too-distant past. I won't get into the details of the episodes themselves but I have posted the clips after the break. In case you missed it, both episodes online over at Hulu.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

[via Gizmodo and Crunchgear]

As my colleague Aron Trimble has pointed out today, Apple has launched a new series of iPhone ads. As they have done recently, these 3 new commercials talk about all the added functionality the iPhone gets from having many thousands of apps available.

There are some ironies that cross my mind as I look at and enjoy the usual creativity from Apple.

One of the apps highlighted is a point of sale system that runs on an iPhone. Most ironic, since if you go the the Apple Stores the POS system they use is running on Windows CE. They're the little portable credit card units the sales people carry.

These ads emphasizing the variety of apps also makes me chuckle, as I think back to how Steve Jobs insisted in June of 2007 that web apps would be enough for iPhone users. Not only was that not true, but by changing his mind, Apple has generated millions of dollars in revenues it would never have made. It could be argued that the addition of apps has revitalized the iPhone and iPod Touch and given life to a device that was showing some weakness before the SDK was allowed. As the many reviews we've done here show, there truly is something for every taste, or lack of taste at the App Store. Like other good ideas, they're hard to protect. Microsoft, RIM, and the Google Android all have app stores either running or on the way. Let's drink a toast to Steve giving in.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that Steve Jobs would not attend Apple's shareholder meeting, scheduled for this week. It would be the first one Steve missed in 10 years. Now, we've learned that the shareholders have decided to re-elect the Apple board.

As MacNN points out, I don't think this is a blatant attempt to re-consider Jobs' position as CEO (don't worry, the blogosphere will soon erupt with exactly that accusation), but more of a confidence-builder for investors and customers: Yes, we have a backup plan in place should Steve become unable to fulfill his current duties.

There's no word on when this vote will take place, and all current board members will be in place for at least one more year. As you probably remember, Steve Jobs took a leave of absence from Apple in January, scheduled to last until June of this year.

Today is the 54th birthday of Steven Paul Jobs. Please join all of us here at TUAW in wishing Mr. Jobs a very happy birthday! In fact, if you'd like to make a short movie of yourself or a group sending your birthday wishes to Jobs, post it on the Web and leave us a comment below with a link to the movie.

Steve's birthday comes one day before the Apple Annual Shareholder meeting this year. As noted recently in an earlier TUAW post, Jobs won't be in attendance.

Bloomberg is reporting that Steve Jobs will not attend this week's Apple shareholder meeting. That's not a big surprise -- Jobs' health has kept him from attending recent usual events, including Macworld earlier this year. But it is the first time in the over 10 years since he rejoined the company that he won't be appearing at the annual meeting.

Additionally, at this week's meeting, as usual, shareholders will vote on whether or not to re-elect Apple's directors to their one-year terms, including Jobs, though nothing is expected to change -- the company has remained strongly in support of Jobs as leader, even if they haven't talked about his health as much as some investors may have liked. COO Tim Cook will likely run most of the planned activities during the meeting.

We'll keep an eye on any news that comes out of the closed meeting (streams and transcripts won't be available, but there will be reporters in attendance), and let you know what we hear. As always, we wish Jobs and his company and family the best of health, and hope he is able to feel better soon.

[via CNET]

Excited for Apple's Insomnia Film Festival? Don't hold your breath -- Apple has contacted participants via email to say that the event has been canceled.

The "festival" was supposed to be Apple giving participants a list of elements and 24 hours to make a three-minute film about them, but after some unexpected server problems, the festival was postponed until after the holidays last year. The website is gone, and they are now saying that they are "unable to reschedule the festival as hoped," which means it's off indefinitely. The email also says that Apple teams "constantly seek new and better ways to showcase your artistic expression," and that there will be other "opportunities to participate in Apple creative festivals."

Unfortunately, they're no more specific than that -- it's unknown whether the problems last year are still going on, or if Apple has something else going down that can't conflict with Insomnia.

It's too bad -- it would have been great to see what kinds of films came out of the competition. But of course given what's going on with the economy and what's happening at AAPL, this was probably just the first corner cut.

It's a miracle! You're an Apple fanboy, you're in Morocco, and you look up in the otherwise blue skies and see the wispy shape of an Apple logo appear for a moment before dissipating. And you're lucky enough to get a picture of it:


Could it be that Planet Earth is sending Steve Jobs a get-well card? Or is it just a random occurrence?

Photographer Piero Formica's original Flickr picture can be found here.

Thanks to TUAW reader Michael for the tip! [Via iPhone Savior]

In a conversation with NBC about Steve Jobs' leave from Apple, co-founder Steve Wozniak said this break could be exactly what Steve -- and Apple -- needs. Woz had some great things to say, and my favorite was his answer to the question, "If Steve [Jobs] were not at Apple, would the company be as able to produce the kind of products we've seen?" Woz's answer:

"Way too hypothetical. I would never venture a guess ... obviously, Steve's very important but Apple has some incredible people, followers of the Apple mentality, followers of Steve himself."

In other words (if I may paraphrase you, Woz), Steve isn't Apple and Apple isn't Steve. No matter what happens, the company will be fine. Good call.

A bit of the audio from the Woz interview was played on last night's talkcast, along with your voicemail wishes for Steve Jobs' improved health. Mike assures me he'll have the show up and online tonight.

[Via AppleInsider]

Last week's talkcast was a star-studded affair, with special guests Ged Maheux of Iconfactory and Rob & Josh from Welcome to Macintosh; everyone had a great time recalling the fun and excitement of Macworld Expo. You can download the show from Talkshoe or subscribe in iTunes.

Tonight, the show is back at 10 pm ET on Talkshoe; however, considering the big Apple news of the week, we're going to take up most of the show by playing back your audio get-well cards for Steve Jobs -- we got over 60 messages of support for Steve and I hope to play many of them tonight. Of course, we'll also make time for your live comments, questions and suggestions. If the audio playback and Talkshoe don't play well together, we'll move the show to Ustream or find another way to include your contributions.

To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, or you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VOIP lines (take advantange of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then!

As we are all probably aware by now, Apple's fearless leader Steve Jobs is a bit further under the weather than we previously believed. However, we will not let this change our regard for Apple, nor its founder and first-ever iCEO. We want to take this time to offer up some words of well-wishing for Steve's health, as well as for Tim Cook (and the rest of the executive staff) as he takes on additional responsibilities during this time of recuperation.

Apple has been an extremely solid performer since Steve took the reigns in 1996. There is no doubt that the success of the Mac, iPod, and iPhone are all in part the results of his direction and unrelenting push for quality. As we have seen from the recent press event surrounding the MacBook refresh as well as from the keynote at Macworld, there are many important players on Steve's team that are extremely talented and capable individuals. During this time of leave it would not be surprising to see Apple pull out some very interesting cards from its sleeves.

Because we love Steve and Apple so much we are already working on compiling a get-well card to Steve with your voice messages, pictures, blog posts, etc., but we here at the HQ wanted to take a minute to lend some of our own thoughts at this time of trepidation. Read on as we wax sentimental over Steve, his health, and what it means to us.