Jobs that he is taking time off to "focus on my health." He remains CEO during his medical leave, but Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook has taken charge of all the company's day-to-day operations.

How the management change will affect Apple's business and whether Jobs is likely to return are open questions right now. Apple didn't talk about Jobs during the company's hourlong quarterly earnings call Tuesday and none of the financial analysts on the line asked about the future of the man

"I can't believe nobody asked the question," said Brian Marshall, an analyst with Gleacher & Co. "It was a pretty disappointing quality of questions," he said. He couldn't say why the issue of Jobs' health and his future at Apple didn't come up. "I guess people just assume that Steve's going to be CEO forever," he said.

The closest COO Tim Cook came to addressing the issue was in the question-and-answer period, when he said Apple had a great product pipeline but refused to say how far that pipeline stretches out. "That's part of the magic of Apple," Cook said. "And I don't want to let anybody know our magic because I don't want anybody copying it."

While Apple is thought to have a few years' worth of products already planned, some observers worry that if Jobs doesn't return, then Apple will suffer without his high standards and dynamic leadership.