Today, Steve Jobs, took the stage to talk about the iPhone 4 Death Grip. Today there are a few people who hold the iPhone in such a way to impact the antenna’s ability to receive a signal. He remarked that the iPhone isn’t the first phone to experience a problem and that while it’s unusual to have so many report a single problem, the number of people reporting this problem is less than 2 percent. In fact, iPhone 4 is producing less complaints than did the rollout of the 3GS by as much 1 percent total.
Essentially, all iPhone 4 users can sign up to receive a bumper that surrounds the iPhone (which helps prevent the breakdown) and if they are still dis-satisfied, they can get their money back.
I saw that a colleague of mine with the Mobile Media Club said that Steve Jobs should be owning the problem more. I was confused by what “owning the problem more” meant. It’s not enough to own the problem but there is a degree to which it should be owned that it currently isn’t?
I think I understand a little bit better now though.
Here is how I see it:
Apple builds products that can’t be duplicated. They can be copied but, as with any copy, it becomes farther removed from what it was copied from. These copies commoditize the value of what the original produced. Apple has a background to produce products like the iPhone. Other companies have a background to produce ancillary satisfaction. Steve Jobs refers to his products like they are his children.
In the now famous email over the stolen iPhone, Steve queries a blogger, after having been berated for “kicking in the doors” of someone’s house to retrieve it and what would Steve’s son say 20 years from now if he could see what Steve is doing.
As for us, we’re just doing what we can to try and make (and preserve) the user experience we envision. You can disagree with us, but our motives are pure.
By the way, what have you done that’s so great? Do you create anything, or just criticize others work and belittle their motivations?
Steve looks at his role as a parent. And parents need to own up to responsibilities. Parents decide consequences, both positive and negative, for actions taken by the children. Sometimes, a parent lets a child take some hits and sometimes a parent needs to step in because the child can no longer defend himself.
To me, Steve stepped in today to tell people to get on with their lives. Don’t worry about the design of the iphone, leave that to Apple. We’re going to fix it but the situation isn’t really that dire. Steve isn’t going to do a “Mea Culpa” and leave his child out in the cold. He’s going to take care of it.
How do you take care of your small business in the middle of a crisis, whether real or perceived? How should Steve have reacted?
