What does Steve Jobs' abrupt indefinite leave of absence mean for Apple, stockholders, and competitors?

You're making too much of Steve's MLOA. Steve took MLOAs before, and the company prospered. Tim Cook has been at the helm before, and he did an extraordinary job, and he'll replace Steve eventually. The hardware for 2011 is in the final testing stages, and the hardware introductions won't suffer from SJ's absence. Steve's been gone for a day, and you think that the competitor's have already exploited this. Absolute rubbish.