Harvard Biz Review: Steve Jobs's Disastrous iPhone 4 Press Conference

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/07/steve_jobss_disastrous_iphone.html

by arpit • 16 years ago

15 12 16 years ago

blogs.hbr.org

So this article goes from using the analogy "Yeah, well, Jimmy stole cookies from the cookie jar, too!" to using beefy words like petulant and contrite. I'm lead to believe that readers of the Harvard Business Review are linguistic ninjas who are simultaneously somehow unable to analyze the simplest abstract description. Or am I reading too much into this?

megablast• 16 years ago

His analogy is majorly flawed, unless everybody is stealing cookies from the cookie jar.

He seems to be more analysing Job's body language and speech, rather than what was said and what was shown.

If the media get another story to follow, they will leave it alone. If not, then they may pursue it for a while longer.

vsingh• 16 years ago

"Today, he was deep in his own personal maelstrom of defensiveness and hostility. His head was frequently down; in fact his whole posture betrayed his unhappiness. He frequently hid his hands behind his back — a classic defensive posture — when he wasn't clasping them in front of his stomach (another defensive posture)."

It was a defensive press conference, by nature. It's not like he's announcing a new product or something. Do you expect, or even want Steve to summon fake enthusiasm on command?

Say what you want about the "reality distortion field", but Steve is a profoundly honest guy, in the sense that he won't convey any impression other than that which he really feels. I bet he couldn't give a Stevenote about a toaster no matter how hard he tried.

radicaldreamer• 16 years ago

The closest he came was when he introduced and demoed the Motorola ROKR. And even then he was visibly displeased when it failed on him on stage.

nixy• 16 years ago

Strange, might have been the reality distortion field, but as I watched the press conference I though to myself at several occasions "yeah, this will shut the nay-sayers up."

I thought they made a pretty strong case with the data they presented. I myself have never had a dropped call with the iPhone because of the reception issue -- believe me, I have tried. However, the not-so-sensitive proximity sensor has, on several occasions, caused me to inadvertently press the "End call" button with my cheek.

lancerp• 16 years ago

Hacker News AKA anti-apple-circle-jerk. Seriously. Stop beating the long dead anti-apple horse, it's starting to smell like reddit.

threepointone• 16 years ago

Relax man, don't get so worked up over it. There's plenty of anti and pro apple people here, and the objective is to discuss opinions and present facts.

Besides, reddit's programming, apple etc subreddits are rather sane. Definitely more than their main ones.

Pretty sure there are a bunch of redditors here too. I'm also certain that they LIKE reddit. This place just requires a different mindset when you enter. And your comment, dear sir, is definitely the bad-reddit type.

dasil003• 16 years ago

Yeah no doubt. The main reason I don't go to reddit anymore is not due to a lack of good discussion. It's just because I don't want to scroll through a 50-comment long pun chain to get to it.

grinich• 16 years ago

Please read this: http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

hop• 16 years ago

"Apple is now a dominant player in the consumer technology market and it can't afford this kind of ham-fisted performance. Jobs should remove himself from the lineup and let someone else take over. Or he should get over himself and cheer up. But Friday's press conference was not good corporate PR."

This is exactly the type of ivy league business exec extrodinaire that could lead to Apple's demise in the post-Jobs era. Yeah, let's be all unicorns and butterflies on stage when our crown jewel, the best cell phone ever made, is being torn apart unfairly by the media. If you're not angry on stage, either your product is defective or you're not being sincere.

natch• 16 years ago

Agree with the article's observations, but disagree with its conclusions. Although the article correctly described Jobs' body language, tone, anger, defensiveness, etc., the effect of all that was positive for Apple because it was totally honest and matched the situation perfectly. People who watch the video understand the Jobs has every right to have acted the way he did in the press conference, and that understanding builds empathy for the company and works in Apple's favor.

sigzero• 16 years ago

The media is making a mountain out of a mole hill here. Unfortunately for Apple, right or wrong, people listen to the media.

Harvard Biz Review: Steve Jobs's Disastrous iPhone 4 Press Conference

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