It wasn’t until halfway through Apple’s hourlong conference call with Wall Street yesterday that someone finally addressed the elephant in the room.

“What about Steve?” asked Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.

Yeah, what about Steve?

“He is still on medical leave . . . but we do see him on a regular basis,” Apple COO Tim Cook said. “He continues to be involved in major strategic decisions, and I know he wants to be back full time as soon as he can.”

Jobs, a cancer survivor, has been on medical leave since January and Cook has been taking the lead.

The Cupertino, Calif., company has gone out of its way to make sure everyone knows Jobs is still in charge. That’s basically been the company line since Jobs started his leave by saying, “I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can.”

When Cook took the earnings call yesterday his title hung in the air as he was announced: C-O-O. During the previous quarter’s analyst call, no one mentioned Jobs’ name.

Yesterday, the only information investors got from Jobs were canned quotes in a company press release.

“With quarterly revenue growth of 83 percent and profit growth of 95 percent, we’re firing on all cylinders,” Jobs said. “We will continue to innovate on all fronts throughout the remainder of the year.”