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Sometimes you have to feel sorry for Apple's board in that they both need Steve Jobs and he is likely their biggest problem to deal with. It makes the HP Board's problems with Carly Fiorina a few years back seem trivial by comparison. Steve isn't the most forthcoming guy and he has a tendency to act first and leave critical players, like his board, out of the loop. This can be a real problem with current corporate disclosure rules which would seem to outlaw much of what has been falsely or selectively disclosed on Steve Jobs health over the last few months.

There are three things to watch for:

Al Gore

The current Obama administration is rabid about strong corporate governance and complying with the rules surrounding corporate disclosure. Yet with the most prominent democrat on Apple's board responding to what has going on there with regard to false disclosures on Steve's health will be a challenge. If they don't go after the company it will look like the administration is specifically avoiding a prominent democrat and, if they do, they make another democrat who is well regarded look like a crook. It gets worse in that Al Gore is the poster child for fixing global warming and should he appear compromised it might seriously damage an effort that many, including me, think could save the human race. If Al Gore resigns from Apple it might indicate a serious problem is coming for Apple, as long as he stays it is likely that the Obama administration will leave the company alone.

Steve Jobs

Jobs is both Apple's greatest asset and their biggest problem. He is wedded to the CEO Job and the company is tied tightly to him with Bloomberg likely underestimating (http://www.bloomberg.com) his worth at around $20B to the company. His health has made his dependability questionable and his ability to actually do the job as he has defined it nearly impossible. He appears to tie his own mortality, as many (http://www.socialsecurity.gov) do, to retaining the job which actually means he likely feels the only way he is leaving is if is no longer living and the stress of the job coupled with his weakened health makes that more likely.

The Apple board can't back fill him without Steve acting to protect his job and forcing the person the board selects out, and the board can't fire him because that will result in the very problem they are trying to avoid near term. They are seriously stuck with a problem they can't fix and yet will be held accountable for. Watch for any drama between Jobs and anyone seemingly positioned as his heir. The last true Jobs heir was Jon Rubenstein (http://en.wikipedia.org) and he was driven out of Apple some time ago and currently runs Palm.

Apple Blogosphere

Apple has a deep network of Apple sites, bloggers, and analysts who receive funding directly or indirectly from Apple and may have to begin disclosing those connections as part of an FTC plan to regulate (http://www.readwriteweb.com) the Internet. Much of this largely undisclosed network of compensated supporters will either suddenly become visible and newsworthy or become a serious disclosure problem for the company. This clearly won't just be an Apple problem (recall Microsoft got in trouble for giving out Notebooks during the Vista launch) but they have the deepest network of sites that are tied to commissioned sales and Apple is known to provide free products to those that write favorably about them all of which will suddenly become very visible. This is unless the FTC issues a hands off Apple edict which, in and of itself (see Gore above) could be problematic.

Watch for any change in Apple focused sites as the FTC ramps to enforce this new rule, there are a number of ways to get around this expected rule including shell companies, long term perpetual loaner products, and awards based on fake contests all of which have been successfully used in the past against similar rules and could come into play here. I've actually been told that cars have been given to people (not from Apple) as loyalty awards using the fake contest method suggesting that significant hidden compensation is possible within or outside of this far from comprehensive list.

Wrapping Up:

Apple has some unique issues and it will be interesting to see how the company adjusts to the risks these issues represent. I really don't envy the Apple board this year.