The following article is reprinted from the Today@PC World blog at PCWorld.com.
Apple held its annual shareholder meeting at its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters Wednesday. Apple’s all about making things user-friendly—so, in that spirit, we’ve boiled its meeting down to five main points. The highlights follow. Note-taking is optional.
1. Steve Jobs wasn’t there. But he’ll be back.
The meeting was the first Jobs has missed in a full decade. It was also the first chance shareholders have had to formally talk with board members about his absence. Apple’s board members indicated Jobs will return in June, as had been originally planned when he announced his medical leave.
“Nothing has changed,” board member Arthur Levinson stated, as quoted by CNN Money. “Succession planning is something this board takes up regularly. You can assume we will do that responsibly.”
2. Jobs is still involved with major decisions.
Apple’s main guru may be gone for the moment, but he’s not completely out of the picture. “[Jobs] is deeply involved in all strategic matters and has delegated day-to-day authority to Tim Cook and his team,” The New York Times reports Levinson as saying.
3. The details of Jobs’ health are going to stay private.
The board avoided answering most questions about Jobs’ health, leaving some shareholders feeling less than satisfied. One person asked about the federal investigation into Apple’s disclosure decisions (as reported last month by The Wall Street Journal). Apple’s general counsel, Daniel Cooperman, declined to answer, The Times says.
4. Apple’s board members are all keeping their jobs.
The entire eight-member Apple board was re-elected. Jobs and Google CEO Eric Schmidt were the only two, incidentally, who weren’t present.
5. The gang didn’t forget Jobs’ birthday.
Apple’s shareholders stood and sang in honor of Jobs’ 54th birthday (which was Tuesday), as noted by The New York Times . No word of any cake, though—what kind of meeting are these people running, anyway?