Jobs in 2009 on the left and 2005 on the right (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Yukari Iwatani Kane of the Wall Street Journal reports that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has been playing a role in Apple’s corporate direction for the last several months despite being on medical leave. If you recall, Jobs left Apple in January to recuperate from what he said was a hormone imbalance. He is expected to return to Apple in late June.

Anyone who has followed Jobs’ career is unlikely to be shocked by the news that the innovative and sometimes volatile CEO has kept his hand in Apple’s affairs. I would find it difficult to believe that he could step away from the company he co-founded and later rescued from the brink of bankruptcy.

According to Kane’s sources, Jobs has been reviewing product designs and played a role in shaping the latest user interface for the popular Apple iPhone.  The article also cites rumors of a tablet device — perhaps one that uses a touch screen similar to the iPhone’s.

I’m not sure that there is any other company in the tech industry that bears the stamp of its founder the way Apple does. Jobs has become infamous in the way that he dictates design philosophies at Apple (buttons are bad) as well as his habit of getting rid of people he thinks of as deadweight. I wonder what the atmosphere is like at Apple. Do the employees have more freedom to explore designs that don’t follow Jobs’ philosophy? Are they looking forward to his return? Dreading it?

There’s no question that Jobs is a genius. The popularity of the iPhone and iPod lines proves that he knows which products to push to market. I wouldn’t be surprised if he returned early for the next big Apple event (scheduled for June).

But this does raise questions in my mind about what Apple will do once Jobs is gone. Will the company so linked to the identity of its founder flourish? Will shareholders lose faith and abandon ship? I’d hope anyone with a stake in the company would give it a chance before calling it quits. Apple has an extremely intelligent and talented group of executives who have the potential to keep the company’s momentum going strong. I’m just not sure if shareholders — or Jobs — will give them the chance.

Learn more at HowStuffWorks.com:

How the Apple iPhone Works
How the iPod Works
How the iPod Touch Works