Jobs took a leave of absence in in January, saying he would return at the end of June. Since then Apple and its employees have made several references to Jobs’ return at the end of that month. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the tech industry has been going nuts over the possibility of a new iPhone, then two new iPhones, then a family of new iPhones along with an Apple tablet. Along with those rumors comes the speculation that Steve Jobs will make a big, dramatic return at WWDC, announce all these new products and resume his work at Apple.
Apparently not.
Apple today released a press release about WWDC, and though it was definitely not a “Steve isn’t coming” statement, it said the conference would kick off with a keynote from “a team of Apple executives led by Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.” It’s easy to jump to the conclusion that Steve won’t be there, but just because he’s not throwing the party, doesn’t mean he won’t swing by for a visit or that he isn’t one member of a “team of executives.”
Unfortunately, it’s more likely that Steve won’t be at WWDC in a few weeks. Now the rumors are kicking into gear as to whether Apple will announce the new iPhone without him, or if they’ll wait and introduce the new iPhone family, as well as an Apple tablet at a separate event, closer to the end of the month and right before people’s iPhone contracts start to expire.
