Aim? Eventual consequence, yes, most likely, but only as a secondary effect. Eric and co., down to the Maps leadership, were on the receiving end of similar out

Aim? Eventual consequence, yes, most likely, but only as a secondary effect. Eric and co., down to the Maps leadership, were on the receiving end of similar outbursts pretty regularly. It wasn't just about hiring. Sometimes it was about patents, like the pinch to zoom one, which actually existed only in Jobs' fantastic tales. Sometimes it was about YouTube. Sometimes it was about Maps features that he wanted Google to implement (and then attempt to patent for himself). Or it was about Android, which eventually became the straw that broke the camel's back: he threatened war in these 2005 mails and did follow through with the iPhone patent battles. Pretty much everything was a zero sum game, in his book. As someone (RIP) said, dealing with him was like dealing with Khrushchev, minus the shoes. Anyway, most of the above have little to do directly with wages and a lot to do with pride, bullying, control and/or things that smell a lot like narcissistic injuries (see also former presidents and current tech CEOs prone to meltdowns). I'm not a psychologist or play one, though, so take that with a grain of salt. Eric and co. simply appeased him way too often. They did push back and occasionally even troll him (like the night before the Nexus One launch), but nowhere enough. If only they had penned a reply like Palm's.