Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who is on a health-related leave from the tech powerhouse, is considering making an appearance at a San Francisco event today to roll out the iPad 2, according to a published report.
If he does attend the event, Jobs is expected to make a brief appearance on stage along with other top Apple execs to tout the latest version of the widely popular tablet, according to The Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital Web site.
However, some industry sources feel an appearance by Jobs to promote the new device could result in “rubbernecking” because of his reported weight loss and could serve to distract the media from the rollout of the iPad 2, which is sleeker than its predecessor and contains front- and rear-facing cameras, a larger speaker, a faster processor and other upgrades.
Even if Jobs does take the stage, insiders aren’t expecting him to deliver one of his signature keynote speeches. Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, is expected to be the ringmaster for iPad 2 dog-and-pony show, as he was for the iPhone 3GS.
Today’s iPad 2 introduction is designed to steal the thunder of Motorola’s Android-based Xoom tablet and other Android-based tablets in the pipeline that are trying to break Apple’s stronghold on the consumer tablet market, rather than prompt more speculation about Jobs’ health.