Steve Jobs' Reaction to MobileMe Launch, Life at Apple After Jobs, and Other Anecdotes
MacStories details a new feature story from Fortune about Apple's management including a number of previously unknown anecdotes about Steve Jobs. The story is presently only available as an in-app purchase in the
Fortune Magazine App [
iTunes], but should appear
online and in print shortly.
One interesting story is about Steve Jobs' reaction to the poor MobileMe rollout in 2008 which was marred with slow services and downtime.
In Fortune's story, Lashinsky says Steve Jobs summoned the entire MobileMe team for a meeting at the company's on-campus Town Hall, accusing everyone of "tarnishing Apple's reputation." He told the members of the team they "should hate each other for having let each other down", and went on to name new executives on the spot to run the MobileMe team. A few excerpts from the article.
"Can anyone tell me what MobileMe is supposed to do?" Having received a satisfactory answer, he continues, "So why the f*** doesn't it do that?"
Jobs was also particularly angry about the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg not liking MobileMe:
"Mossberg, our friend, is no longer writing good things about us."
Jobs reportedly appointed a new executive on the spot to run the MobileMe team. Another particularly interesting piece was the fact that Apple is actively planning and teaching its employees for "life at Apple after Jobs.":
Steve Jobs hired dean of Yale School of Management Joel Podolny to run the Apple University, an internal group also featuring business professors and Harvard veterans that are writing a series of case studies to prepare employees for the life at Apple after Jobs. These case studies focus on Apples recent business decisions and internal culture, they are exclusive to employees and taught by top executives like Tim Cook and Ron Johnson.
MacStories also summarizes some of the other anecdotes from the feature article.
Popular Stories
The M2 MacBook Pro has started making its way into customers' hands and we're learning more about how it performs in a variety of situations, but all eyes are really on the upcoming M2 MacBook Air which has seen a complete redesign and should be arriving in a couple of weeks.
Other top stories this week included a host of product rumors including additional M2 and even M3 Macs, an updated...
Apple today began selling refurbished Mac Studio models for the first time in the United States, Canada, and select European countries, such as Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
In the United States, two refurbished Mac Studio configurations are currently available, including one with the M1 Max chip (10-core CPU and 24-core GPU) for...
While past rumors have indicated the upcoming second-generation AirPods Pro will feature a built-in heart rate and body temperature sensor, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has cast doubt on those rumors turning out to be true, saying instead such a feature is unlikely to come anytime soon.
"Over the past few months, there have been rumors about this year's model gaining the ability to determine a...
Apple is working on an Apple Watch Series 8 model with a larger display, according to DSCC's Ross Young and Haitong International Securities's Jeff Pu.
In October last year, Young suggested that the Apple Watch Series 8 could come in three display sizes. Now, responding to a query about the rumor on Twitter, Young claims that the additional display size joining the Apple Watch lineup will be ...
The redesigned MacBook Air with the all-new M2 Apple silicon chip will be available for customers starting Friday, July 15, MacRumors has learned from a retail source. The new MacBook Air was announced and previewed during WWDC earlier this month, with Apple stating availability will begin in July. The MacBook Air features a redesigned body that is thinner and lighter than the previous...
Top Rated Comments
Hate to destroy your vision of the OCD, angry, mercurial Steven P. Jobs with a whip persona, but the man on a daily basis talks and commends people across all lines of work he has his interest in.
He calls a spade a spade. He is always the first to praise his staff for superb work. Do you expect him to give them all a Capri Sun and we'll get'em next time kids when they deserve to be challenged for their efforts?
There are an awful lot of multi-millionaires working at Apple ever since Steve returned.
Nearly 33% of the staff was about to take 12 week sabbaticals when NeXT took over. They were all walking out of the company.
He ended that ridiculous program and told them they can walk now.
Most stayed and realized the man had vision far beyond the stories they had read.
The rest is proof of his broad vision.
Either you are a focus person or one who needs coddling. This isn't high school.
You either speak up and find your niche working there and leave because of other circumstances [as I did] or you moan and complain about the great Tyrant Steve Jobs that only ever existed amidst people who grew up always being praised as if they were mini-gods for just being able to participate in a school sport.
Merit gets rewarded handsomely with Steven P. Jobs corporations.
You earn your pay and take pride in your work. If you have no pride to be the best, don't apply.
As a paying customer from the start of MobileMe, I find this incredibly amusing and wish I could've been in the room when this smack down was being hand delivered hot and fresh.
Steve Jobs created a billion dollar company. I doubt he's going to change his personality and management style. He knows what he needs to do to be successful, even if that means a few people won't like him.
That's why he has billions of dollars and you don't.
Business.
You think he's going to coach everyone up like a life coach or your best friend?
You think Google, MS, IBM, Intel, AMD, Nvidia, etc., don't do the same thing? If so, then you've never been in the trenches.
You either fold or focus. He is the best at getting people to focus and they have the lowest attrition rate in the industry.
From MacStories:
Every Friday we turned in our progress reports in QA at NeXT and later at Apple when I was in Professional Services.
When we stopped doing that is when several of us, myself included, left.
Keeping a running history of timelines and achievements motivated everyone, especially when our name was on the report.
Everyone's work was available for review.