The latest revelation into the mind of Steve Jobs was his sure belief the antennae issues that plagued the iPhone 4 last year were not Apple’s fault, but in fact sworn enemy Android.
 Click to enlarge |
And it seems Jobs had to be convinced to act on the antenna issue and only did so after his right hand man, Tim Cook, now Apple CEO, warned him not responding would stink of arrogance and put the brand in danger of “becoming the new Microsoft, complacent and arrogant”.
Jobs was said to take the matter rather personally and was “emotionally anguished” according to his official biographer and former Time Magazine editor, Walter Isaacson, whose book Steve Jobs went on sale in the US yesterday.
The antenna debacle was in his eyes and attempt by rival Motorola and Google to “shoot Apple down” despite the fact that the bad reception complaint hit iPhone 4’s around the world.
But after Cook’s stiff warning, Jobs saw sense and declared “Let’s get to the bottom of this.”
An emergency press conference was held days later where an apologetic Apple announced full refunds, free cases, rubber bumpers to appease angry users.
“We will send you a free case, we cannot make enough bumpers, we will offer a choice of cases,” was emblazoned on a big screen behind Jobs at the conference, who later complained to Isaacson he sounded “too annoyed” on stage.
But he still felt the issues was not as big a deal as was being portrayed: “This is blown so out of proportion that it’s incredible.”
But it wasn’t just faulty ariels that sent Jobs in a rage against rivals – his relationship with former friend Eric Schmidt also soured following the former Apple board member’s move to rival Google, which subsequently invented the Android OS and went up against Apple’s iOS ecosystem.
He refused Schmidt’s call for a truce:
 Click to enlarge |
“I don’t want your money. If you offer me $US5 billion, I won’t want it. I’ve got plenty of money. I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that’s all I want,” an enraged Jobs said.
On Friday last, it emerged the Apple co-founder has sworn ‘thermoneuclear war ‘on rival Android at any cost, after the release of a HTC smartphone which Jobs believed was ripping off his beloved iPhone.
“I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $US40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong,” he declared.
“I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”
Jobs died from rare form of pancreatic cancer on October 05 and held over 40 interviews with Isaacson.
Jobs initiated the interviews to the ‘surprise’ of the biographer, who last met him just weeks before his death, according to CBS 60 seconds programme.
Little did he know how soon he would be releasing the book, now bound for the best seller lists, so soon.
