WWDC 09 Keynote: Schiller, not Jobs

Apple revealed on Wednesday that it's 2009 World Wide Developers Conference keynote will be presented by senior vice president of World Wide Product Marketing, Phil Schiller, and not Steve Jobs. Many had been hoping that Apple would use the event to highlight the CEO's return from medical leave.

Mr. Schiller, along with what Apple is calling "a team of Apple executives," will deliver the keynote.

Senior vice president of Software Engineering, Bertrand Serlet, also confirmed that developers would be receiving a final developer preview release of Mac OS X 10.6 at the conference.

CEO Steve Jobs started a six month leave of absence early in the year for health reasons. At the time, he said in a letter to employees "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, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June."

Mr. Jobs's decision to temporarily step out of the spotlight came after his battle with pancreatic cancer and weight loss concerns that were detracting from Apple events and product announcements. He has, however, remained involved in company decisions during his medical leave.

Apple's World Wide Developers Conference is scheduled to kick off on June 8 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The event will include training and lectures on Apple technologies including Mac OS X 10.6, iPhone Software 3.0 and more.