Although some are questioning how long Steve Jobs will continue to lead Apple, the Cupertino chief executive ranks No. 2 in a list of most-like company leaders.

Jobs had a 90 percent approval rating by participants in the first-ever survey by review site Glassdoor. Jobs garnered 290 reviews, far above the 50 needed to qualify.

Art Levinson, CEO of biotech firm Genentech, was ranked No. 1 most-liked boss with 93 percent approval.

Jobs beat Eric Schmidt, CEO of Internet Google, who had 88 percent approval.

Office Depot CEO Steve Odland ranked as the least-liked CEO, obtaining just 4 percent approval from reviewers.

Apple promised that it would finally pull its attention off the cash cow iPhone and iPod product lines to spotlight notebooks at an event this morning, and they weren’t kidding. New MacBook, new Air, new Pro, and a new matching Cinema Display for good measure. The design team absolutely hit it out of the park on these machines, which are all glass, shiny black accents, and subtly tapered corners. Like the iMac whose design they refine and make significantly more appealing, these machines look like they were just made to sync with an iPhone or iPod touch (and, if anything, they make the continued use of white plastic docks for those devices look increasingly incongruous). This is Apple’s best design work, and it’s for a Mac — something we haven’t seen since the 12″ PowerBook G4 that I’m typing on was introduced. Read on for the Pros and the Cons…

The gathering of the tribe has begun at Apple HQ in Cupertino this morning, where, in 30 minutes or so, the company will turn the spotlight on its line of notebook computers. I’ll be updating this post with relevant details of the pronouncements from the Town Hall stage during the event, so refresh the post to keep in the news and check back later today for Cult of Mac reaction to and analysis of all the new gear.

The Apple Store has gone off-line in preparation for the stocking of new inventory; no doubt the company’s server array will get a workout in the next 24 hours.

Follow the news after the jump.

Our post about the OneLessDesk the other day prompted some discussion about desks in general, and included a link to an eye-popping desk design from Peter Sucy. He calls it the PerDesk.

We wanted to find out more, so we asked him what it was all about.

“This desk is a design I came up with after unsuccessfully trying to find a desk for use with a zero gravity chair.

“The desk at the bottom of the page (in woodgrain) with just shelves front and rear was the original design but I decided to take it to the extreme and the result was the design at the top of the page and depicted in the animations. The large arch holds two slide out bays that will each hold a Mac Pro and battery backup unit. The arch also provides a support for multiple monitors.”

Multiple monitors we can understand. But two Mac Pros and 12 Mac Minis? What’s that all about?

“I wanted a unit that would hold at least two Mac Pros because I get tired of waiting for a test image to render and wanted to be able to switch between machines. I thought the 12 Mac Mini render farm would be just the ticket for rendering my 3D lenticular images because it takes 10-12 frames to comprise a 3D image and each frame can take hours or even days to render just one frame.

“The full blown desk was designed to replace the typical office cubicle with a 7′ x 10′, ergonomically comfortable, workstation solution based around a reclining zero gravity chair.”

Right now the PerDesk is just an idea in Peter’s head. But if any manufacturers are interested in turning into a product, he’d like to hear from them. Perhaps we should put him in touch with the OneLessDesk guys, although then they’d have OneMoreDesk, so maybe not.

They call it the “OneLessDesk”. They say it will be “the last desk you’ll ever own”. It’s … quite a desk.

Sleek. Silvery. (Unless you buy the white version.) Made out of solid steel, strong enough to hold two 24 inch flat panels side-by-side, cut from raw sheet metal with lasers, baby.

“Built”, they say, “like an American tank.”

And a steal at just $649. I’ll have two. I’m going to melt them down. I could do with a tank.

• CG: Queues of 40-50 people in UK O2 stores reported. I’m guessing they’re not there for Nokias… #
• CG: iPhone unboxing images to lust after if you’ve not been lucky enough to get one yourself: https://tinyurl.com/64sh2p (MacRumors) #
• CG: Incisive first-day AppStore commentary from Daring Fireball: https://tinyurl.com/66uh4j – interesting free/paid-for app comparisons. #
• CG: Turns out you can take iPhone screen-grabs by holding Home and tapping the power button. Photos are (logically) sent to the Photos app. #
• CG: Counterpoint (i.e. positive) article regarding SSD impact on battery life: https://tinyurl.com/5a4kdu (via Alexander Klimetschek) #
• CG: First-day reports suggest many O2 stores had just a dozen or so iPhones for sale, with only a few 16GB models. Feel Jobs’ wrath, UK! #
• LM: part 1 of my interview on TalkingHeadTV: https://talkingheadtv.com/?p=64 #
• LM: part 2 of my interview on TalkingHeadTV: https://talkingheadtv.com/?p=65 #
• LM: part 3 of my interview on TalkingHeadTV: https://talkingheadtv.com/?p=66 #
• LM: part 4 of my interview on TalkingHeadTV: https://talkingheadtv.com/?p=67 #
• Well, the iPhone launch is totally messed up, eh? #
• PM: That was me. How’s iPod touch 2.0 upgrading going? #

Update: For a well-reasoned rebuttal to at least my views on design, check out Leigh’s counter-post once you’re done reading here.

I’ve been alluding to this for a few months now, but let me repeat: The Mac is poised for innovation over the next few years on a scale that we haven’t experienced since the initial move to OS X in the previous decade. After five years of focusing on new categories like the iPod and the iPhone while gradually improving its Mac product line, the company has now freed up the resources to strengthen its core and highest-revenue business: Macs. And at the same time, new technologies are emerging to take the Mac to the next level. To read why, click through.

By the time this message posts, I might have already put in an order for a brand-new MacBook Pro. And, like any good Machead, the prospect of new hardware makes me miserable. After all, my old PowerBook G4 is incredibly obsolete, and I’m used to its idiosyncrasies. But I can’t deal with the idea of something spendy, flashy and new that’s behind the curve. I’d rather be way behind the times than just a few minutes off the mark.

This is the tremendous irony of loving Apple. The company’s computers are more elegant and functional than any other devices on the market, even without OS X. Unfortunately, Apple does such an amazing job adding features over time, that even a three month-old Mac can look a little long in the tooth. Now, I know this is meaningless quibbling. There will always be a great reason not to upgrade. New software, new I/O, new GPU, new processing architectures. But that’s particularly unlikely these days. The current MacBook Pros have multi-touch, very strong graphic processors, high-end Core 2 Duo chips, 802.11n, ExpressCard, MagSafe, and Mac OS X Leopard. That’s a set-up that will rock for years to come.

On the other hand, the following technologies should become relatively ubiquitous and economical in the next two years: SSD, mobile quad cores, WiMax, USB 3.0, ExpressCard 2.0, eSATA, DDR3 RAM, LTE, Blu-Ray, DisplayPort, ray-tracing graphic acceleration. I’m sure I could come up with others if I tried hard enough.Intel is supposed to release a few new Core 2 Duos for mobile with the launch of its Centrino 2 platform on July 14, and the most promising aspect is lower power consumption with a faster front side bus. Which doesn’t mean Apple will have new hardware on the 14th — Steve usually waits a few weeks.

The point being, I’m terrified of Apple taking the wraps off a new set of MacBooks and MacBook Pros the second that I invest, and I’ve lost the ability to accurately predict when the company will jump. Everyone knows the anxiety of the Apple early adopter – what on earth can be done for the agony of the late adopter? Anyone else dealing with the same pain?

Back in January, I was fairly effusive in my disappointment in the MacBook Air. I still think it’s a product that has a long way to go before it fulfills its promise as a thin, light, road warrior’s machine (the fact that it isn’t standard with an SSD is a pretty poor statement about its long-term reliability), but I’m now willing to admit that it hits the mark with at least some people, including people I really respect, like BusinessWeek’s Reena Jana, their innovation editor.

I’ve had a lot of conversations with Reena in the past, and she’s a constantly on-the-go kind of person, meeting with design and innovation leaders around the country. She probably travels for business more than I do. And she loves her MacBook Air:

OK, so I personally don’t have the need for many USB ports, nor for a huge, huge hard drive. And I don’t even feel that bad that there’s no Ethernet port, although I could get an attachment for it, which to me isn’t such a big deal (I rarely use the Ethernet jack). I’m reminded of when MacBook’s stopped having a floppy drive, or a dial-up jack. People were upset. But other laptops followed, because these features became obsolete. I see a parallel here, and my laptop lifestyle was starting to reflect the phasing out of DVDs and Ethernet jacks before the Air was released.

Fair points all, though I think I’d be more comfortable with the Air’s lack of a DVD drive if Apple distributed its own software, such as iWork, on USB key instead of DVD… Still, this is another reminder that a lot of people don’t need anywhere near the file storage capacity that I do. Just this weekend, I learned that my sister-in-law is desperate for an Air, as well. I’ll be very interested to hear how the Air performs in the market. I still think it will meet a fate similar to the G4 Cube, but there are some people who are incredibly excited by it.

For me, I think I’m stuck in Steven Levy’s camp: If I even had one, I think I’d probably throw it out with the newspapers by accident.

Though we’ve all ranted and raved about the MacBook Air since Tuesday’s launch at MacWorld, i think we’re not getting any closer to a final decision. Many people see this incredibly thin machine as an ideal travel laptop, while I think Apple got so caught up in its focus on thinness that sacrificed far too many other features. Some argue that this is a typical Apple move to kill off unnecessary features ahead of the rest of the industry, but I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. There’s a lot on my mind, but I’ll use some reader comments to get into it.

Brendan West: But if they had a super-thin bezel, the edges of the computer could not reach that mythical 0.16″³, you see. The thinning of the shell means the still-pretty-bulky-for-its-size-LCD screen has to stop at a certain thickness.

With the MacBook, the bezel was so thick (I think) because of the emerging magnetic latch tech. With the MBA, it’s because (I think) they just couldn’t do it, cap’n.

That’s all true, but why does going down to 0.16″ matter? Any laptop is going to take up as much space as its thickest component. Apple couldn’t have gotten 0.25″ and gotten a better-looking bezel and bigger screen in the process?

Anon: “It’s still bigger than a 12″³ Powerbook.” And not just a little bigger. It’s two inches wider. I just measured, it won’t fit in the laptop bag that totes around my four year old Powerbook. I agree with all the Air’s compromises (speed, ports, I can even live with the integrated battery.) But the huge footprint is probably a dealbreaker. It means the Air’s thickness and weight is more about looks then portability. I’ve had one Powerbook after another for the last 15 years, but I’m worried: I don’t see my next machine in Apple’s lineup.

You and me both.

Bone: Hey, Pete”¦

When you get that masters in product design / mechanical and electrical engineering maybe you can explain to Apple’s designers/engineers how to fit an 8mm thick 1.8 HD where a 5MM thick version probably barely fits and keep the thing just as thin. Same goes with the bezel.

So long as they can tell me why shaving off that 3mm is more important than providing an $1800 laptop that would have as much storage as a $349 portable media player, I’m ready to have that conversation. Three millimeters is 0.11 inches. Oh noes! The MacBook Air might be 0.76″ in more places than its hinge! Call the cops!

Ian: I also looked at my kids needs. We have wi-fi at home and they mostly use their Mac now for iPod and Thumb drive. The last time my kids listened to a CD or watched a movie on the Macbook was an age ago. They don’t know what a Firewire cable is and so will not miss it. So I think this is a great product for students as well. It is targeted at a different market”¦

An interesting perspective. I can’t say I disagree.

Greg Baines: It is no doubt a beautiful machine. But I was just looking at the Hong Kong apple site, and I worked out for around the same price as the air I could buy an iMac, Apple TV, and an iPod touch.

If I really needed a portable and walked intot he Hong Kong store with the money for an air, I could by an iBook, an iPod touch, an iPod classic, and an Apple TV for the price of an air.

I’d love to buy one, but it just costs too much. What a shame. With all these really decent low cost machiens coming out (but poorly designed), why couldn’t apple also bring something simple and beautifuly designed that people actually need? What about the education market?

Maybe we should all boycott the Macbook Air- it is no doubt the most beautiful computer ever made, but why do we get pushed overpriced products all the time?

That’s a bit extreme, but I agree in part. What about the education market?

Finally, I wanted to take quotes from two celebrity commentators on the MacBook Air: Wil Shipley, founder of Delicious Monster, and Steve Jobs himself. They’re both fans.

Shipley: I don’t buy a laptop because I want to replace its drive in a year. I buy it because it seems great and meets my needs today. If my needs magically morph over the coming year, I guess I’ll sell it on eBay. Or pay Apple to throw in a different drive, or something. Honestly, I think we need to admit that just because machines get faster every year, doesn’t mean that the majority of people need faster machines.

In two weeks I’ll be writing Delicious Library 2 on a MacBook Air, every day. Because it’s simple and beautiful, and I crave those things.

Well, obviously, Wil, but my 12″ Powerbook G4 is nearly five years old, and I don’t think Apple is interested in putting it back on the market as an executive laptop. Besides, people do constantly need more data storage as video editing, photo editing, podcasting and other kinds of creativity got democratized — mostly thanks to Apple’s iLife suite. I have a really hard time believing that your Air isn’t going to spend most of its time at home hooked up with either a server or NAS, Wil. Right now, 80 gigs isn’t enough for anyone really interested in maintaining a big iTunes library and adding TV and movies into the mix, as well. It just isn’t. There’s no getting around this issue. And ordinary people don’t have external hard drives, home servers or other such solutions.

Jobs: “I’m going to be the first one in line to buy one of these,” he said. “I’ve been lusting after this.”

Yep. Just as I suspected. Steve made a machine for himself, as ever. It’s just a shame that this time his view of the world was so vastly different from the realities most of us have to deal with. He lives in Palo Alto, where WiFi is ubiquitous, so forget about a 3G modem on the Air. He has a million external data storage options and more powerful computers at his disposal, so keep the hard drive tiny. He won’t buy the one with a regular hard drive, so throw in a slow, unreliable iPod hard drive instead of a real one. The rich people like Steve will all buy the one with the SSD in it, so who cares about the low end?

At the end of the day, this is my take on the MacBook Air: Gorgeous design solving a questionable goal of ultimate thinness. The model with the SSD is a dream secondary computer for the rich and famous. The other one is going to be unsatisfying to a lot of people. Most importantly, it’s just not small enough. Who decided that thin was the only way to go about making a full-featured laptop that doesn’t weigh much? And the 12″ Powerbook still hasn’t been topped as a design triumph at Apple. Period.