The Blog DoggerBlogs force secretive Steve Jobs to open up

Apple’s intensely private CEO issued a shaky statement after blogger speculation about his health sank Apple stock

Steve Jobs didn’t blog about his health, but he did drive bloggers crazy.

On Monday, the secretive Apple CEO issued an official statement to quell the intensifying rumor that his health is quickly deteriorating. A rumor fueled by blogger speculation after Jobs canceled his annual keynote address at this week’s Macworld Expo.

He had given the keynote every year since 1997.

“My decision to have [Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing] deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed,” Jobs wrote.

Jobs survived pancreatic cancer in 2004. Recently, his physical appearance has grown markedly gaunt—“spindly as a mantis,” observed Esquire magazine contributor Tom Junod—sparking rumors of ill health.