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Imagine the problem was with ATT (not hard to imagine), and Jobs sends the CEO an email expressing his dissatisfaction, to which the CEO replies, "Retire, relax

by blehn 16y ago

Imagine the problem was with ATT (not hard to imagine), and Jobs sends the CEO an email expressing his dissatisfaction, to which the CEO replies, "Retire, relax, enjoy your family. It is just a phone. Not worth it." I wonder how Steve would react. He sure as hell doesn't market the iPhone as "just a phone," so how can he expect his customers to think of it that way?

cheald 16y ago
Indeed. You don't get to sell someone a magical life-changing device that will make you breakfast in bed on Tuesdays and then dismiss it as trivial when a bit of user dissatisfaction comes along. Apple doesn't sell "just a phone" - they sell a brand, an experience, an identity. For Jobs to dismiss it as "just a phone" is somewhat disingenuous in light of his marketing approach.
- Timothee 16y ago
  To be fair, the iPad is the magical and revolutionary product, not the iPhone. The iPhone just changes everything. Again.
  - stcredzero 16y ago
    This level of grumbling about the iPhone certainly is a change versus the last one.
- grellas 16y ago
  Perhaps the real attitude is summed up best by Fake Steve through satire (http://www.fakesteve.net/2010/06/there-is-no-spoon.html http://www.fakesteve.net/2010/06/there-is-no-spoon.html): "So some guy says his iPhone 4 is having reception issues. I say there is no reception issue. Now it’s his reality against my reality. Which one of us is living in the real reality? There’s a two-part answer: 1, there is no real reality, and 2, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is which reality our customers will choose to adopt as their own. Of course most people would rather live in a reality where everything works and there are no problems. And now, thanks to me, that reality exists. Because I’ve created that reality for them."
staunch 16y ago
Allowing an iPhone to bring you some joy is okay, but allowing it to make you deeply upset is stupid.
- MikeCapone 16y ago
  It kinds of go together, in my opinion. If something can bring you a lot of joy, by not working it can take that joy away, making you upset. I'm not saying that guy expressed himself correctly, but I can understand why he would be upset at the idea that Apple and Jobs doesn't seem to think this problem is real and needs a fix.
  - probablyrobots 16y ago
    Steve's comment makes sense from his buddhist perspective: Life is suffering and suffering comes from attachment. He clearly wants iphone owners who are attached to their phones to suffer :)
    - pyre 16y ago
      He was pretty attached to that missing iPhone4 prototype though...
- jrockway 16y ago
  I buy a lot of gadgets, so I'm used to being upset when I realize my $600 toy is not going to be much use to me. But most people do not go through the cycle as often, and they think that buying a product means it's going to work as advertised and not give them problems because they hold it wrong. The fact that the phone loses reception is irrelevant; the disappointment comes in knowing that you have a flawed half-baked product, and that there will never be one that works. Next year, there will be another iPhone, but it will be flawed in some way too. Now Apple isn't as cool as you thought. Now you aren't as cool as you thought. Now the Universe isn't as cool as you thought. An angry letter seems like a pretty rational response if it means that you can still feel meaning in your life.

by blehn 16y ago

cheald 16y ago

Indeed. You don't get to sell someone a magical life-changing device that will make you breakfast in bed on Tuesdays and then dismiss it as trivial when a bit of user dissatisfaction comes along. Apple doesn't sell "just a phone" - they sell a brand, an experience, an identity. For Jobs to dismiss it as "just a phone" is somewhat disingenuous in light of his marketing approach.

Timothee 16y ago
To be fair, the iPad is the magical and revolutionary product, not the iPhone. The iPhone just changes everything. Again.
- stcredzero 16y ago
  This level of grumbling about the iPhone certainly is a change versus the last one.
grellas 16y ago
Perhaps the real attitude is summed up best by Fake Steve through satire (http://www.fakesteve.net/2010/06/there-is-no-spoon.html http://www.fakesteve.net/2010/06/there-is-no-spoon.html): "So some guy says his iPhone 4 is having reception issues. I say there is no reception issue. Now it’s his reality against my reality. Which one of us is living in the real reality? There’s a two-part answer: 1, there is no real reality, and 2, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is which reality our customers will choose to adopt as their own. Of course most people would rather live in a reality where everything works and there are no problems. And now, thanks to me, that reality exists. Because I’ve created that reality for them."

staunch 16y ago

Allowing an iPhone to bring you some joy is okay, but allowing it to make you deeply upset is stupid.

MikeCapone 16y ago
It kinds of go together, in my opinion. If something can bring you a lot of joy, by not working it can take that joy away, making you upset. I'm not saying that guy expressed himself correctly, but I can understand why he would be upset at the idea that Apple and Jobs doesn't seem to think this problem is real and needs a fix.
- probablyrobots 16y ago
  Steve's comment makes sense from his buddhist perspective: Life is suffering and suffering comes from attachment. He clearly wants iphone owners who are attached to their phones to suffer :)
  - pyre 16y ago
    He was pretty attached to that missing iPhone4 prototype though...
jrockway 16y ago
I buy a lot of gadgets, so I'm used to being upset when I realize my $600 toy is not going to be much use to me. But most people do not go through the cycle as often, and they think that buying a product means it's going to work as advertised and not give them problems because they hold it wrong. The fact that the phone loses reception is irrelevant; the disappointment comes in knowing that you have a flawed half-baked product, and that there will never be one that works. Next year, there will be another iPhone, but it will be flawed in some way too. Now Apple isn't as cool as you thought. Now you aren't as cool as you thought. Now the Universe isn't as cool as you thought. An angry letter seems like a pretty rational response if it means that you can still feel meaning in your life.