Content Matters

Yesterday's not-so-surprising news that Steve Jobs' health concerns were greater than had been previously disclosed took the tech news world by storm. The stock was down about 10% in after-hours trading and the news pushed the Yahoo-Carol Bartz story off the front page of blogs and contributed to a few more fail whales on Twitter.

Of course, Steve Jobs' health was already largely baked into the AAPL stock price, so the news shouldn't really spook investors. In the short-term, Jobs' absence should have little impact on their performance. They won't sell any fewer MacBooks or iPhones in the next few quarters because of it.

But what should alarm investors is the lack of transparency and candor from Apple. Apple has never been the most forthcoming company. But with Jobs at the helm, they could get away with it to some extent. His larger-than-life persona brought a certain mystique to Apple. Bloggers acted like fanboys, eagerly awaiting new product announcements.

But that's now going to change. With Jobs on the sideline, investors will have little forgiveness for even slight missteps. Should Apple miss on earnings or face demand problems, the markets will punish them severely. Let's hope that Apple realizes this and sees this as an opportunity to improve shareholder relations. If not, they better make sure they execute well.