Filed under: Apple Corporate, Rumors, Steve Jobs
The tweet that made Steve Jobs furious
Apple doesn't have a huge social media presence. There's an iTunes Facebook page and what can arguably be called a MobileMe blog, but that's about it. However, they do monitor the likes of Twitter, like any self-respecting company would, and a recent tweet reportedly ticked off Steve Jobs but good.
Recently, Steve set up meetings with tech writers and executives from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to promote the iPad. He gathered the group from the Times at Pranna, where he ordered off the menu, wore "... a very funny hat" and reportedly tried to sell them on distribution via the iPad. Having taken place in a public restaurant, the gathering was called "Intimate" and "family-style" by observers.
By contrast, representatives from the Wall Street Journal met Steve and his new device behind closed doors. According to sources, the Journal group was confined to the 5th floor of their building and several staffers who wanted to meet Jobs could not. One of the lucky few was editor Alan Murray, who sent the following Tweet, supposedly after playing with an iPad:
"This tweet sent from an iPad. Does it look cool?"
According to Valleywag, the tweet infuriated Steve Jobs and was soon deleted. When Valleywag followed up with Alan to ask about the incident, he replied by simply saying that he can't discuss it. Later in the day, he wrote via email, "I will say that Apple's general paranoia about news coverage is truly extraordinary- but that's not telling you anything you didn't already know."
Apple is notorious for great design, extreme secrecy and yes, what many have called paranoia. Teams working on unreleased products are kept under a so-called "cone of silence" with Steve's notorious temper -- he has reportedly gone off on high-profile members of the press who had written disagreeable reviews of Apple products -- keeping things in check.
Lest you think Steve is just a big meanie, he gets it as much as he dishes it out. In rather not-safe-for-work terms, Steve shared with the panel of journalists the flavor of some of the angry emails he's received from disgruntled fans after product announcements. We'll let you read that on your own.
[Via MacRumors page 2]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
emil said 9:25PM on 2-08-2010
F twitter.
Reply
Frank said 10:05PM on 2-08-2010
use it, or don't – but why the hate?
John Donut said 3:43PM on 2-09-2010
F Twitter indeed.
Cliff said 8:09PM on 2-09-2010
No thanks, I go to Hurting Harry's Hemorrhoid Hospital.
Slappy said 9:38PM on 2-08-2010
Dude broke the NDA, he's lucky they didn't break his fingers.
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tys said 9:43PM on 2-08-2010
This comment posted from an iPad. Does it look cool?
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Ryan said 9:48PM on 2-08-2010
iTunes also has a few official twitter feeds.
Reply
Gio said 3:57AM on 2-09-2010
After the iPad launch they have a youtube official channel too.
Jordan said 9:57PM on 2-08-2010
Steve's a douche who needs to relax a little bit in life.
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You Don't Need To Know said 5:33PM on 2-09-2010
OK idiot, lets see if you can build and run a multi-million dollar company. Things like that don't just happen, stupid. You need to work, and Steve Jobs really did work for the place that he's in right now, so i don't think you have the right to tell him how to run his company
Jordan said 7:06PM on 2-09-2010
I didn't think I was telling him how to run his company. There's a difference between being an up-tight arrogant asshole, and working.
riley9576 said 10:52PM on 2-08-2010
These reports of Steve Jobs "flying off the handle" about things seem to be an everyday occurrence. Instead of worrying about what everyone else is doing, the focus should be, at least in my opinion, on driving what Apple has always been great at producing ... innovation.
Take the Google war, for example. I "get" that both companies are starting to find themselves competing with one another. But, instead of just standing infront of your own people calling Adobe lazy and Google "full of it" shouldn't the focus be on continuing to make sure that neither one of them can ever touch the user experience common to so many great Apple products?
Removing any reference to "Android" within App descriptions?! Come on guys. If anything, competition is where you (Apple) has always been able to differentiate themselves from "everyone else." If anything, you should be touting how many Apps reference Android and how ubiquitous the Apple experience has become.
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Rubbinz said 10:57PM on 2-08-2010
Steve getting his panties in a bunch... again!? Look Steve, people are always going to tell others when you put a hot new product in their hands. If you don't like it go lock yourself and the team overseeing the project in a bunker. Nobody comes in and nobody goes out until you're ready to begin shipping the product.
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Scott Earle said 11:08PM on 2-08-2010
Whatever it is about Steve Jobs, it is exactly this temperament and his overall personality that has made Apple what it is today.
Criticise him all you like, but the guy gets the job done.
So he flew off the handle when someone broke NDA, and effectively pre-announced a product? I can see why that would enrage him.
If Steve Jobs were different, Apple would be different to how they are today. Personally, I say let him be the way he is and live with it.
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Rubbinz said 11:28PM on 2-08-2010
Good job on not reading the article.
"So he flew off the handle when someone broke NDA, and effectively pre-announced a product?"
1) There was no NDA.
2) The "tweet" in question was on Feb. 4. If Feb 4 comes before Jan 27 in your world... Wow!
Matthew W. said 9:44AM on 2-09-2010
I don't buy the whole "being a jerk makes you successful" argument. If that was true, there'd be a lot more successful people in the world.
JP said 11:44PM on 2-08-2010
No wonders why the guy caught cancer. Too much paranoia too much control. Relax, slow down and learn from your mistakes. I know I know ,Ican always dream.
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mr whirple said 3:26PM on 2-10-2010
cancer is not something you "catch"; it isn't contagious
Cityhues said 12:17AM on 2-09-2010
I don't understand why this "tweet" was so upsetting. The iPad was already public knowledge. No special unannounced software was required to make the tweet.
Was Jobs simply upset that somebody opened a browser, went to Twitter and typed a fairly innocuous comment? Was it a control thing?
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Jordan said 1:02AM on 2-09-2010
He's upset because of the words "does it look cool". Colbert had an iPad at the grammy's and when he asked his daughter if it made him look cool, she shook her head no. Steve's upset because the pad got major national coverage of not looking cool following all the upset people after its announcement.