6 posts tagged iphone

The next time someone says “You are being difficult” remind them that Apple thought Steve Jobs was being difficult and they fired him. 

He then went off and created this little animation company called Pixar. 

Apple asked Steve Jobs to come back in 1997 when they were about 90 days out from bankruptcy. Steve nixed the Newton, created a partnership with Microsoft and refocused the entire product line. 

Almost exactly 14 years later, in August 2011, Apple’s value exceeded that of ExxonMobil. 

The next time someone says “it’s impossible” think of how Steve Jobs changed our world.

In 2001, as we recovered from 9/11 and later saw our country go to war, who could possibly have ever even considered the implications of a soon to be launched MP3 player called the iPod. Or the iPhone. Or the iPad.   It is not just about the devices. It is everything that feeds in and out of the devices and how we communicate and share. 

So if you want to call me “difficult” and tell me that my beliefs are “impossible” then the only thing I have to say to you is “Thank-you, I am in very good company.”

Thank you, Mr. Jobs for your unfaltering belief in your vision and making “difficult” and “impossible” something to be incredibly proud of. 

AT&T has apparently been living in a dreamworld for the last several years, believing that Steve Jobs Apple would NEVER release the device with another carrier.  Time to wake up.  Problem is, AT&T just kept hitting snooze as the alarm went off. 

The last few days have demonstrated AT&T is in full-panic mode to stem the loss of customers who will happily migrate to Verizon within the next week.  It’s called “short-term reactionary thinking” - something so many businesses are guilty of. 

AT&T didn’t listen to their customers. They refused to acknowledge that it was the device, Apple’s device, not AT&T service that created the growth they experienced. And now that device is available somewhere else - a provider where calls won’t drop, bars won’t suddenly disappear. 

AT&T is scared. They should be - they made a huge mistake that is going  to cost them millions. Their executives’ judgement should be called into question.  They believed that they held the power, not the consumer.  An incredibly poor decision given how vocal consumers have been (and Mr. Jobs - let’s face it - he would have bailed ages ago if the device could have been in market sooner). 

So AT&T, all of these promises you are making - EMPTY. You will never get another opportunity like the one the iPhone gave you.  It was practically handed to you. You failed. Hopefully, other  businesses will learn from your mistakes. (oh and, um, I think I hear your alarm going off again).

Last Friday night, some poor hapless engineer “lost” a prototype of the new iPhone. 

Actually, we can assume said engineer imbibed in one too many beers at Gourmet Haus Staudt, and, wanting to impress some pretty girl (or boy), took the revered device out and started to brag. Obviously, the engineer was successful in his endeavors and went home happy that night, until he realized that he left the prototype at the Gourmet Haus. 

Now, since Apple employees have a clause in their employment terms that indicates “death” as a an acceptable repercussion for leaking any company secrets before they are officially scheduled to come to market, one can assume that our bumbling friend quickly hauled ass back to the bar to retrieve the left-behind device. 

But not before another patron found it, and, recognizing the iPhone as something NEVER SEEN BEFORE OH MY GOD!!!, promptly called….Gizmodo? To whom he/she sold the phone for $5000 (so says the NYTimes) in what must be a matter of a few hours, if I am following the timeline correctly.

Really?

1. Apple has NEVER had a leak to this level. A prototype leaving a specific room at Cupertino is unheard of. Leaving the building? Highly unlikely.

2. Apple has been riding a wave of heavy media buzz almost non-stop July of 2009 (when buzz around the iPad started to heat up).  Apple wants to continue to ride that wave. And let’s think about the value of this buzz from a marketing perspective…let’s just say this type of ongoing saturation would require the combined marketing budgets of Coke, Apple, and IBM. 

3. Someone at the bar was familiar enough with the current iPhones to recognize this device as the new iPhone? Maybe. Given the the number of iPhones floating around in that area, it’s highly likely that said person was smart enough to recognize that this just wasn’t ANY iPhone - it was THE iPhone. Could it possibly be…GASP!…another Apple employee?

4. So they called Gizmodo? And sold it for $5000? How convenient for Gizmodo to get a scoop that has only been rivaled by TMZ breaking the news of Michael Jackson’s early demise and Watergate. But seriously, if you knew you had the iPhone 4.0 in YOUR hands, would you call Gizmodo? Why not Microsoft? Or Nokia? Why not sell it on eBay where you would be damn sure to get more than a lousy $5000?

5. Apple can disable a lost iPhone within minutes. Given the purported length of time before this happened, perhaps our little Apple engineer was too busy getting a little somethin’ somethin’ to notice the missing device, providing Gizmodo just enough time to get the call, negotiate for the device, secure the device, and take it apart to get a little glimpse of how it works. Just a little. Before the device shut down. Convenient.

Realistically, this sequence of events is just a little to neat - a perfect alignment of timing combined with the bumbling idiocy of an Apple employee? Not buying it.

Nice try though Mr. Jobs. You certainly have us all talking.  Which was ultimately the plan, right?