Apple issued a press release Monday morning to announce that CEO Steve Jobs would be taking a medical leave from the company, but will remain in his position and continue to “be involved in major strategic decisions.”

Apple has announced via press release that their board of directors have granted CEO Steve Jobs a medical leave of absence per his own request. COO Tim Cook will step in to handle “day to day operations” in Jobs’ absence, but the CEO remains in his post during the medical leave.

BusinessWire posted the full text of Jobs’ e-mail announcement, which was sent to all Apple employees on Monday morning:

Team,

At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health. I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for all of Apple’s day to day operations. I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011.

I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy.

Steve

There was no indication of how long Jobs might be leaving for, but assigning Tim Cook to manage things in his absence isn’t much of a surprise, since the COO handled the same tasks during Jobs’ much-publicized liver transplant surgery and recuperation during the first six months of 2009.

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