Nocera Deserves an Apology. (Update)

With yesterday's news that he's taken a leave of absence from Apple, no doubt Steve Jobs has more important things to do than to apologize to a reporter. In the grand scheme of things, such a transgression is small beer. Still, this doesn't diminish how badly Jobs treated Joe Nocera, who had the misfortune to ask him for comment about Apple's "culture of secrecy" back in July.

"In June, rumors began swirling that Steve Jobs was sick again," wrote Nocera. "They had started during the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, where Mr. Jobs looked unusually thin and haggard."

Nocera attempted to get Jobs on the phone and was initially blown off. Then:

On Thursday afternoon, several hours after I’d gotten my final “Steve’s health is a private matter” — and much to my amazement — Mr. Jobs called me. “This is Steve Jobs,” he began. “You think I’m an arrogant [expletive] who thinks he’s above the law, and I think you’re a slime bucket who gets most of his facts wrong.” After that rather arresting opening, he went on to say that he would give me some details about his recent health problems, but only if I would agree to keep them off the record. I tried to argue him out of it, but he said he wouldn’t talk if I insisted on an on-the-record conversation. So I agreed.

Nocera wrote that nothing Jobs told him "contradicted" his own reporting.

The bottom line? "Apple," wrote Nocera, "simply can’t be trusted to tell truth about its chief executive."

All indications -- including the conspicuous lack of a succession plan -- suggest that this is still the case.

...Nocera writes more about Jobs today: "The most indispensable chief executive in the United States, beloved by customers and investors for his magnificent turnaround of the company he founded — and for the amazing gadgets his company produces — can no longer be trusted on the subject of whether he is healthy enough to continue running the company."