Steve Jobs calls with condolences for family of slain teenager

"Making the family think that SJ and Apple truly care will prevent the family from suing this nice, friendly company who's product caused their son's death." Matt, you're an IDIOT. The iPod, or Apple for that matter didn't cause anyone to die. It was a group of people breaking the law. People who draw the conclusion that the crime was caused by the victim, or in this case his posessions, really make me sick.

Some of the comments here sicken me. I do NOT like Steve Jobs at all, but reading this story made me feel just a bit more warm to him. Then I go and read the comments, and see that fans of his are even saying that he might've done it out of PR. That's ridiculous! If I, a non-Steve-fan, can see that this was pure of heart, then so should all of you!

"We're all human and whenever something like this happens, it's awful and everyone can understand how bad it is for his family right now." Well, apparently not everyone can understandsomehow I doubt that the people who murdered that child feel any remorse for what they've done.

I second lauries comments, some of those who have made such cynical comments should hang their heads in shame.

Robert Knight - I could not have said it better myself. Reading some of these comments made me a little sick to my stomach. It didn't occur to me that some people are really so jaded that they question every motive, even when act is so obviously pure. To repeat what Rob said... this was not a PR event or a sound bite opportunity. Apple has made no comment about it and neither has Steve himself. The Times reported it as a human interest thing, and since it was a Times reported that provided Steve with the number, they obviously knew about it and followed up with the family. I would be money that if Steve had gotten the father's phone number in a less obvious way (if he'd had more details on where the father lived he could have googled a phone book listing i suppose), he would have still made the call and had a private, unreported conversation with these people. He wasn't apologizing for anything or being proactive in order to prevent a law suit. That is just ridiculous. He did nothing wrong, nor did Apple. As someone else pointed out, this isn't any different than kids getting knifed or shot or beaten for their sneakers, their leather jackets, their designer jeans - even the gold fillings in their teeth. It happens every day, unfortunately. The CEO of Nike may have made calls like this himself for all we know. And so what if he did or didn't. But if he did, we don't need to know about it and most likely wouldn't know unless the parties involved chose to make it public. Genuinely good and decent people tend to do things just because they care, not because of what might be in it for them. It would serve some of you quite well to remember that more often.

I like to think Jobs was showing true compassion but his office called the New York Times for the parents number. What about calling the NYPD or using the phone book? If they didn't want the NYTs to write about it they would have found the number out some other way.

Geez folks, the guy made a phone call to a grieving father. There was no press release, no media event, just a compassionate man making a phone call to comfort a family that lost a son. Any notion that this was a PR thing is just absurd. You have to back off the usual everything-a-celebrity-does-is-for-publicity mindset and just let this one go.

I'm a bit torn on it. I want to give Steve the benefit of the doubt, but part of me is skeptical. Maybe that's wrong of me. I guess what would help me decide is finding out how the press found out about it. Did Steve leak that he was going to call the family? Then I think I'd say he had a PR motive behind it (not necessarily ALL PR -- he might legitimately care and feel badly but still have at least a portion of a PR motive behind him). Did the family contact the press without Steve knowing? Then I think Steve definitely did it just because he felt badly about the situation. If we'll never know, then I'll probably convince myself to give Steve the benefit of the doubt, even though a little part of me might kind of doubt 100% non-PR motive. Either way, it's a sad commentary on society that someone would kill another person for something so trivial as an iPod. It's unfortunate.

As many people have already said,t his move was very big of SJ. I think we can rule out that it was a PR Stunt - Steve's people haven't even commented on it. Also, I dont think it would be business related, because if the family did sue (which i dont think they would -- why drag the matter out?) the fact that SJ phoned them wouldn't make a difference at all. Let's not forget SJ has kids. He's a real person as well as the worlds-best-CEO :)

First off, nobody made SJ call, and nobody suggested that he do so. It should be obvious that this was a sincere condolence for a tragic event. Secondly, Matt, as a lawyer, the "business professional" inside you speaks from cynicism rather than reason. There is no case against Apple - none - zilch - nada. Please don't put an ulterior motive on every action, especially one as admirable as this.