And I think your interpretation is far more likely. As much as I know everyone wants to believe that Steve was involved until the very end; I've seen people in the final week (and final minutes--my grandfather) of pancreatic cancer. They're not "working" on much of anything other than taking their next breath.
It makes for one hell of a story; but, I think the better story is to think of a man who spent his last 24 hours alive with those closest to him--his family.
This is kind of off topic, but isn't it a bit of an unchecked assumption that Steve actually died of pancreatic cancer? He had pancreatic cancer, seven years ago, but it was operated on, and his more recent health problems involved a liver transplant. How do we know that it was a reoccurrence of pancreatic cancer (which wasn't supposed to happen, and which reportedly didn't happen when Jobs had his earlier health issues) and not some other problem caused by a side-effect or complication of the Whipple procedure or something?
Official Death Certificate: Respiratory arrest was listed as the immediate cause of death, with 'metastatic pancreas neuroendocrine tumor' listed as the underlying cause
Not a doctor, but my wife is a nurse who cares for renal and GI diseased patients for a living. She has told me that liver problems are common alongside pancreatic cancer and that patients often receive extensive treatment for liver problems, sometimes including transplant depending on the prognosis following remission of the cancer.
There's no doubt in my mind that the liver transplant was directly necessitated by his pancreatic cancer.
Precisely. While I'm sure Steve communicated with Cook the day before he died (he knew he was dying - the PA police had been notified), and I don't doubt he expressed his last ideas for the future of Apple, I'm sure he was far more concerned with more transcendent things than the pixel density of the iPhone 5. Steve was not a shallow man.
Given that Cook no doubt knew Steve was about to die, I don't think it's reasonable to think he would tell the truth. Just imagine what he might have said if he had.
