Despite Apple’s mixed signals of silence and denial, rumors continue to grow that CEO Steve Jobs is seriously ill, perhaps about to breathe his last, and that he can no longer continue to run the company he co-founded.

Now rumors are a dime a dozen, I suppose, but just what is contributing to this one, which rears its ugly head over and over again? Well, for one thing, it’s really all Apple’s fault, because they are not giving the facts the media needs to put this claim to rest once and for all.

What do they need? Well, a few photos of Steve in action in his office at Apple, or perhaps even a quick appearance on his favorite cable TV news channel, MSNBC, to talk a little about Apple’s stellar year and prospects for 2009. It doesn’t have to be a long interview. A fast four or five minute segment showing a vigorous-looking Jobs would be sufficient to satisfy everyone, and it can be taped at Apple’s campus, so he wouldn’t even be forced to drive to the studio.

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A large part of the speculation about Apple Inc. for 2009 covers the hardware. You just know that the iMac is overdue for a refresh, and the long-neglected Mac mini is likely to get one as well. Beyond that, perhaps there will be a unibody version of the 17-inch MacBook Pro, some new Apple displays and maybe some new variation on a media center. That is, of course, if the revitalized mini doesn’t suit that purpose.

The prognosticators are also talking in terms of the introduction of a netbook, a “nano” version of the iPhone and a few other tidbits. Maybe there will be that famous headless iMac, or mythical midrange minitower that many of you have on your shopping lists if such a beast ever appears.

However, at its heart, Apple is a software company. Everything they do revolves around that essential characteristic. Indeed, it’s not just elegance that sells Apple gear, but the ability to master most of the important functions and installation routines without having an IT person at your beck and call.

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When you’re number one in a market, the pressure is always on to somehow remain on top, or even expand the difference between you and number two.

Apple has to worry about that primarily with the iPod and iTunes. But since both are so far ahead of the rest of the market, it doesn’t seem likely that a true competitor will arise before the entire segment becomes over-saturated and irrelevant, and that’s probably already happened. The iPod touch did well at Amazon, and that an obvious bridge product that takes the digital media player concept to the next generation.

What’s that next generation? Likely some sort of netbook-style device. It appears that such things are doing pretty well right now, if only because many customers simply cannot afford a full-featured notebook. For simple email, Internet surfing and word processing, a smaller portable computer with a slower processor and tinier hard drive might be an adequate solution.

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If you can believe Microsoft, they frequently put groups of users in little test rooms — or some sort of testing environment — and expose them to the new features in a product. By gauging their reactions, they decide whether those capabilities deserve to go into production.

Now if you look at Microsoft’s shipping products, it doesn’t seem they’re getting a terribly good sampling, or maybe they aren’t paying attention to the results. Some of the features that end up in their products appear to be just plain weird.

Take, for example, those constant warnings in Vista about whether the next thing you do is safe or not. It comes so frequently that you many uses give the OK on auto-pilot, not realizing that they might be subjecting their PCs to potential malware as a result of not paying attention. Or, in frustration, they just turn off the feature.

So what might have been a good feature, at least insofar as Microsoft’s intentions might be considered, ended up in the “Cons” list when reviewers got their hands on Vista. Supposedly you’ll have a friendlier version in Windows 7.

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