Of late, people writing to Steve Jobs have received a reply – mostly terse one liners. A personal reply from a CEO like Steve Jobs is a high (I tried my hand too, haven’t got a reply yet!) and it provides for great publicity. Especially for tech blogs. The latest one is an email debate of sorts between Ryan Tate of Gawker and Steve Jobs.
Firstly, it’s amazing that a CEO of a company like Apple takes time to reply to emails written by end consumers. Secondly, on the specific Gawker-Apple debate, I am totally with Steve Jobs on Apple’s policy of blocking porn from the App Store. Apple is not attempting to eradicate adult content from the internet – just from the environment they control. You are free to access any content via Safari or other browsers. But I respect the stand taken by Apple not to allow adult content on their Apps.
No one is forcing anyone to buy an Apple product. Apple has deliberately chosen a method of controlling what goes into their iPhone & iPad via the App Store. Yes, the process is not without faults (Google Voice, anyone?). But I think the controlled approach it is a key factor in delivering a great consumer experience.
And oh, Steve Jobs delivered a ‘F$%^& you!’ statement to Gawker without using the four-letter word:
“By the way, what have you done that’s so great? Do you create anything or just criticize others work and belittle their motivations?”
No response from Ryan. Steve Jobs responded to these mails between 12:50 am and 2 am. Amazing.
3 Comments
As far as I'm concerned, the whole Gawker article is about eating humble pie
– drunk-emails Steve
– gets a reply and lets loose. Brings his own wife into it.
– gets his ass handed to him by Jobs
– admits all these things himself and then in a total flash of no-logic-at-all puts up the article as an indictment of Apple and Jobs.
He should've probably drunk himself asleep before hitting the "publish" button.
Ha, well-said, Neeraj. Loved the silence emanating from Rayan's side after Jobs' 'what have you done' remark.
Tried tweeting this post using that widget above, but it didn't work for some reason.
One of the best posts I've read recently, among the many others (you're on a roll) because it questions the validity of (studied) opinion versus (hollow) noise.
A question that is particularly worth asking when the mediums available for expressing ideas and opinions have increased, but our ability to process, or filter information hasn't really changed very much.
You may enjoy this lovely quote from the redoubtable Sir Hegarty, "In life you can oppose, but you always have to propose". I am using this out of context, but it is fitting in the context of your timely post.