Apple director says no change in Jobs' plans

CUPERTINO, Calif. -- At the company's annual shareholders meeting Wednesday, there were more questions than answers about Jobs, who last month said he is taking a six-month leave of absence because a condition first disclosed as a treatable hormone imbalance was "more complex" than previously believed. Jobs is a survivor of pancreatic cancer.

When pressed by one investor, Apple board member Arthur Levinson said the company expects Jobs, 54, to return at the end of June. "Nothing has changed," Levinson, who is CEO of Genentech, told several hundred shareholders.

The company's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, is filling in for Jobs during his leave. Jobs did not attend the meeting at the company's headquarters here.

"It is bad policy not to say what's up with someone who has so much influence at one company," said shareholder Richard Harrison, 77, of Santa Clara, Calif. He has owned Apple stock for more than a decade.

Despite questions about Jobs' health and how the company's eight-member board handled its disclosures, all were re-elected, including Jobs, former vice president Al Gore, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Levinson.

Apple shares improved 1%, to $91.16, in trading Wednesday.

Last month, the company reported first-quarter profit that handily beat Wall Street's expectations.

Brisk sales of iPods and laptops vaulted profit to $1.61 billion, or $1.78 a share, from $1.58 billion, or $1.76 a share, a year earlier.

Revenue soared 29% to $10.2 billion. Analysts had expected Apple to announce revenue of $9.74 billion and a profit of $1.39 a share.

(Apple has cautioned results for its current quarter could reflect the deepening recession. It projected profit of 90 cents to $1 a share on sales of $7.6 billion to $8 billion.)

"Apple should do fine without Steve in the near term (24 months) and may do fine in the long term, should his health force him to depart," said Van Baker, an analyst at market researcher Gartner. "It is unclear how well the executive team absorbs his role."