Steve Jobs and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford have little in common, but their stories had similar arcs this week. Until coming clean later in the week, there was mystery and intrigue as to their recent whereabouts. 

I have nothing to add about Sanford's Argentinean escapade, but let's talk about that liver transplant Jobs reportedly had performed in Tennessee. 

Even though Jobs had taken an official leave of absence, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) investors may be wondering why they have to find out about the health concerns of their company's iconic sultan of style after the fact. Where do you draw the line between a private matter and something that should be disclosed? 

This isn't an issue that is going to just go away. The rub here is that Apple has seemingly been humming along just fine in Jobs' absence. The new iPhones are a hit, and that comes at a time when Palm (Nasdaq: PALM) and Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) have been cranking out compelling smartphone candy. 

However, it just goes to show that Apple shareholders can't let go of Jobs, even if the company is fit enough to go on without any one single person. COO Tim Cook has been in charge during Jobs' absence.

Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.

  • Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (Nasdaq: GMCR) now has vending machines spitting out its signature K-Cup refills for its Keurig single-cup brewers. Is this one of the signs of the apocalypse? Premium coffee from an automaton? I guess it beat Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) to the robotic barista.
  • Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) introduced TV Everywhere, a new model where television broadcasters and cable networks will work together with cable and satellite companies to deliver on-demand Web streams of content that subscribers are already paying for through their monthly cable and satellite television bills. It's going to be a great retention tool, at a time when consumers were thinking of dumping their cable programming entirely.

Until next week, I remain,

Rick Munarriz