Tech Rumor of the Day: Apple

Apple (AAPL) named its keynote speaker for the June 8 World Wide Developers' Conference and, it's not Steve Jobs.

Apple says Mac showman and marketing chief Phil Schiller will lead a team of executives in a presentation of the iPhone 3.0 software and its so-called Snow Leopard Mac operating system.

Now that Jobs is officially not the key speaker, Apple watchers are speculating that he could at least make an appearance.

This is among the bigger events on Apple's calendar. Among other things, analysts expect Apple to unveil the latest version of the iPhone, which as we reported, may include a cheaper calling plan from AT&T(T).

It was in June last year, during the 3G iPhone introduction, that Jobs appeared alarmingly thin setting off speculation about his health. Jobs got treatment for pancreatic cancer in 2004.

In January, Apple announced that Jobs would not attend its annual MacWorld show. The scratch started another round of chatter about Jobs' health.

After nothing but silence in the face of mounting concerns about his health, the Apple co-founder and CEO issued a statement blaming a "hormone imbalance" for his weight loss.

Nine days later, Apple announced that Steve Jobs would take a medical leave until the end of June and that COO Tim Cook would serve as interim chief.

An early showing by Jobs at the June 8 conference would make for a triumphant return, but don't get your hopes up.

Jobs was too weak to attend a town council meeting April 28 in Woodside, Calif., to argue that he should be allowed to tear down his 14-bedroom house and build a new one, according to a report by the Pallo Alto Daily News.