(AFP) – Jan 14, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said Wednesday he is taking a medical leave of absence through June because his health issues are "more complex than I originally thought."

In an email to employees released by the tech giant, Jobs said he is going on leave "in order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products."

Jobs, 53, a cancer survivor who disclosed on January 5 that he was being treated for a "hormone imbalance," said that since that time "I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought."

"I have asked (chief operating officer) Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple's day-to-day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job," he added.

"As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out," said Jobs, the visionary behind the iconic Macintosh computer, iPod and iPhone. "Our board of directors fully supports this plan."

The price of Apple's stock plunged 6.29 percent to 79.96 dollars in after-hours trading following the announcement.

"Everyone is going to speculate he is on his deathbed, like it usually goes," said Gartner analyst Van Baker. "The company will do just fine with Steve taking a leave of absence.

"Steve is the public face of Apple," Baker said, but "Apple is not going to collapse without him there."

Jobs had explained his no-show at Macworld, this month's annual cult-like gathering of Apple devotees, with a letter stating that a hormone imbalance had caused him to lose a troubling amount of weight.

"As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008," said Jobs, who underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer in 2004 and looked extremely gaunt at his last public appearance in September.

"My doctors think they have found the cause -- a hormone imbalance that has been 'robbing' me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy," he said.

Hormonal imbalance is a common symptom of pancreatic cancer and could signal that Jobs isn't done battling the often terminal illness, said Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group in Silicon Valley.

Apple has been notoriously secretive about Jobs's health and speculation has been rampant since it was announced that for the first time in 11 years he would not give the keynote speech at the Macworld Expo.

Marketing vice president Phil Schiller gave the keynote at Macworld, which ran from January 6-9 and featured companies promoting gadgets, gear, software or services tailored for Apple products.

NPD Group analyst Stephen Baker said Jobs's absence should not be crippling to the company.

"Apple has a lot of great people there and ought to be able to execute on plans they have," Baker said. "That is what working on a team is all about. While Steve Jobs is the boss, there are lots of other smart people there."

As Apple's chief operating officer, Cook has been in charge of the nitty-gritty running of the company. Cook also heads the California firm's Macintosh computer division.

"Steve's role has been largely big direction, not hands-on," said NPD's Baker. "He is more the resident visionary in terms of strategic decisions, not the detail guy. I don't see his leave-of-absence having a big impact on Apple."

However, in the public's eyes Jobs is Apple incarnate. Apple was teetering on the brink of ruin when Jobs returned to the helm in 1996 and led it to marketplace glory.

He had left the company in 1985 after an internal power struggle.

Born in San Francisco on February 24, 1955 to a single mother and adopted at a young age, Jobs founded Apple in 1976 with engineer Steve Wozniak after dropping out of college.

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