The person in charge of running Apple's day-to-day business while Steve Jobs is on medical leave is the company's Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook.
Steve Jobs is staying as Chief Executive Officer and, in the short term, it won't mean that much of a change of role for Cook. As COO he is already in charge of Apple's day-to-day business, while Jobs controls longer-term strategic planning.
But because Steve Jobs is so closely associated with Apple's public profile, his illness will deeply worry investors. If the unthinkable happened, and Steve Jobs did not return to the company, would Cook be his successor?
He headed Apple during Jobs' last medical leave of absence and he did it successfully. But, even he has admitted, he doesn't have the charisma of his boss. He has a lot of his other attributes, but not the charisma.
So what do we know about Tim Cook?
He's 50 and grew up in Alabama, the son of a shipyard worker. He's an engineering graduate from Auburn University, although he later studied Business Administration.Steve Jobs hired him in 1998, to help bring Apple back from the brink of bankruptcy, a move that undoubtedly worked. Before that, he'd had successful spells at Compaq and IBM.
Cook, like Jobs, is a workaholic. Colleagues say he starts firing off emails at 4.30 each morning and has been known to hold Sunday night staff meetings to prepare for the next week.
He's a fitness fanatic who likes hiking, cycling and going to the gym. Again like Jobs, he prefers wearing casual clothes. While Jobs' trademark is black turtle-neck tops and Levi jeans, Cook always wears Nike shoes. But then he is on the board of Nike.
He's also not averse to being the public front-face of Apple. Many times, he's appeared on stage with Jobs at product launches. He again took to the stage last week to announce the launch of the Verizon iPhone, this time without his boss, and we probably now know why. Although colleagues say he can appear aloof, they also say this could be an in-built shyness that his boss doesn't suffer from.
In 2009, when Steve Jobs took medical leave to have a liver transplant, Cook was put in charge of the company for six months and Apple continued its meteoric growth with barely a flutter. Apple shares took an initial dip, but soon recovered. At that time, there was much speculation about who would be Jobs' successor. Most analysts agreed it was either Cook or the then head of hardware Mark Papermaster.
Perhaps the speculation is a little more straightforward this time: Papermaster no longer works for Apple. He left in the aftermath of the iPhone 4 Antennagate debacle.
If the worst comes to the worst, it would seem Tim Cook could now be seen as Steve Jobs' natural successor.
But what about Apple? Sure, it would probably carry on successfully for several years on product plans already made. But without Steve Jobs - the man who started the company in his parents' garage - it's certain Apple will eventually become just another large faceless corporation...another Sony...another Microsoft.
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