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.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs had a liver transplant two months ago in Tennessee, but is still expected to return to work by the end of the month.

Jobs, who went on a medical leave from Apple in January, has had continuing medical issues related to a bout with pancreatic cancer. The type of pancreatic cancer that Jobs has will often metastasize in other organs, particularly the liver. According to the WSJ article, it is expected that Jobs will work part-time upon his return to the company in order to speed his recovery.

The 54 year-old Jobs missed the Apple shareholder meeting in February, and hasn't been flying in his corporate jet (one of the perks he receives along with his US$1 annual compensation) as much as he had in the past.

The TUAW staff, along with many of our readers, is looking forward to the return of the Steve Jobs to the company he helped to create.

I hope this post gets filed in the "I knew I wasn't the only one!" mental filing cabinets of many. Because if it doesn't, then it makes me the only one who really looks forward to the music Apple uses in its keynotes. Whether it's a song that leads up to Steve Jobs' entrance on stage, or one used in software or hardware demos, there's no denying that music is very much a part of Apple's DNA. Heck, the company's namesake reflects Steve's love for the Beatles. Apple occasionally invites some of music's biggest names to perform at its events because, as Steve says, "it's all about the music."

And this post is all about the music. It's all about the music that Apple has used in one way, shape, or form at its keynote events. Although by no means a definitive list, it's certainly a fair sample.

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]

Today was a landmark day for the good ol' boys (and girls) at 1 Infinite Loop as they again posted record-breaking quarterly results. Profit was a svelte $1.21 billion for a grand total of $8.16 billion in revenue; or, as the guys in Wallstreet see it: $1.33 per diluted share. All of this is apparently good news as after-hours trading has shares of AAPL up about 4 points from the days close of $121.51. If you haven't already, you can check out some of our highlights of what drove those numbers as well as the full press release from Apple here. Also, MacJournals did a fantastic job covering the call via their Twitter feed, which can be found here.

One continuing theme through the course of the call was the economy's overall effect on Apple's numbers. One noticeable effect was that professional and education sales were down during the March quarter. Even with the release of an entirely refreshed line of Mac desktops, the quarter saw an overall decrease in Mac marketshare. It wasn't all bad for Apple, however, as iPod sales (particularly the iPod Touch) were up enough to seemingly offset the bulk of the lagging Mac sales.

While the results themselves are always nice to hear, the most interesting section of the quarterly call is the question and answer section that follows. The answers, while somewhat scripted, give the listeners a chance to hear Apple execs think and speak on their feet regarding Apple's results and plans for the future.

One of the more notable topics during this discussion was Apple's opinion on the netbook market. Tim Cook took the question and in an answer that was truly Apple said, that netbooks are "junky ... not a consumer experience that we would put the Mac brand on," while quickly following-up with a good, old-fashioned "If we can find a way to deliver an innovative product ... then we'll do that." If you remember the days before the video iPod, then this conversation should be very familiar to you. For a good overview of the Q&A check out MacRumors' excellent post on the subject.

If you don't care about the financial results and have grown tired of hearing Apple dance around whether they're going to release a netbook, then there is at least one bright spot in all of this. According Peter Oppenheimer, Apple is pleasantly awaiting the joyous return of Steve Jobs in June (we miss you Steve). I don't think anyone was really expecting any more or less information than that, but here's to hoping Stevie J. returns and brings with him all-new iPhones, netbooks, and pots of gold.

Overall, the results were very positive for a company that deals in "luxury" products given the current economic climate. I hope that in the future Apple continues to succeed and that this is the last quarter we hear of in which Apple loses marketshare to anyone.

[Via Engadget, MacRumors, and MacJournals]

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]

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.

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.

We all know that Steve Jobs will eventually leave Apple, and Apple's executive team has a responsibility to draft a succession plan to help minimize the turmoil when that day comes. To figure out what Apple might do, we can look to the past for other examples.

Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903 by Henry Ford. In 1918, at the age of 55, Henry handed the presidency of the company to his son Edsel. When Edsel died in 1943, Henry came back to Ford Motor Company ill, "mentally inconsistent, suspicious, and generally no longer fit" for the job.

Most of the board didn't want him to be president. Even with no official title, he'd been in de facto control of the company since Edsel took over. Nevertheless, the board elected him (rather than cross him), and he served until the end of the second World War. Gravely ill, he turned control of the company over to his grandson, Henry Ford II, in 1945. Henry Ford died two years later.

Steve Jobs has four children, the oldest of whom is Lisa Brennan-Jobs, a 30-year-old journalist. None have publicly expressed any desire to run Apple.

We'll have more coverage and reactions tomorrow to Apple's announcement this afternoon of Steve Jobs' leave of absence while he tends to his health. While we may have different takes on what the news means for Apple's immediate and long-term prospects, I believe we can all join in wishing Steve a full and speedy recuperation. I'm sure we also all send Tim Cook our hopes for Apple's continued success.

To that end, TUAW wants to give you a voice as part of our audio get-well card to Steve. You can call in your message to our voicemail hotline at (917) 512-7398 x41469, or record it yourself and upload the MP3 or AAC file to our dropbox at http://tr.im/getwell -- we'll edit the messages together for next week's podcast. Be sure to identify yourself on the call.

If you want to do a photo or illustrated card, you can upload it to the same dropbox, or simply tag it with 'tuaw' on Flickr to add it to our pool, and we'll highlight the best in a gallery later this week.

If you're blogging your thoughts on today's announcement and Steve's health as it relates to Apple, feel free to leave a link in the comments.

CNBC is reporting that Steve Jobs' health situation is "more serious" than previously thought, and Steve Jobs announced he is taking a "medical leave of absence" in a letter to Apple employees. He anticipates returning in July.

Tim Cook, Chief Operating Officer, is taking over day-to-day operations of Apple, Inc. in the meantime. In his letter, Jobs says the board supports this plan, and that he will be involved in major decisions even though he is out of the office.

Cook took the reins at Apple for a month in 2004, while Jobs had surgery for pancreatic cancer, the disease that could be contributing to his health problems today.

Jobs released a letter the day before Macworld Expo detailing a "hormone imbalance" that he said would be treatable with an adjusted diet. His health concerns apparently became a distraction to himself and Apple employees, so he chose to take a six-month medical leave of absence.

CNBC analyst Jim Goldman said his sources inside Apple told him that "Steve Jobs is in serious denial" about the state of his health. BusinessWeek's Arik Hesseldahl said on CNBC that although this is a surprise announcement, he took a milder tone, and doesn't think this is a resurgence of Jobs' pancreatic cancer, which Jobs said he beat.

Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster said on CNBC's Fast Money program that while Tim Cook is a solid choice to lead in the interim, "replacing the magic of Steve Jobs is impossible." Even so, Munster considers this a buying opportunity for Apple stock.

Apple stock trading was halted until 5 p.m. Eastern time. In early trades since the stock re-opened, AAPL's price is down by about $10.

Read on to see the full text of Jobs' letter.