weeks - 1:31 pm on Dec 17, 2008 (gmt 0)

This is good business. Control your message, control the timing. This once a year meeting was creating a demand for news from Apple on the meeting's schedule. That had to be seen as absurd within Apple.

And now is the time for people to get use to the idea of Jobs not being the front man all of the time. The stock will drop today on this news, but then the market will digest it.

I've learned the hard way that you don't want your organization too closely identified with any one personality. This applies to companies and it applies (maybe even more so) of non-profits.

The business press likes to focus on people because people can be interviewed, be funny, do bad things and their readers are people who are interested in people. But, products, process, organization and goals are what make a business real. Personalities with ideas are everywhere. And Apple is trying to communicate this.