Ode to Steve Jobs - Today's Modern Superstar

I'm sure there will be many who get angry about what I am about to write, but it dawns on me that, today, Steve Jobs is thee rock star of our era.


Michael Jackson was the last superstar of the Analogue Age. There will not be anymore of those again... 

Many years ago, at the height f their popularity, John Lennon said that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus Christ.  He was well criticized for that. Some fans even took to burning Beatles records. 


Of course, the Beatles touched many lives... But I would contend to you that, when it comes to a comparison of how many lives were made better, then I reckon that Steve Jobs blows away the Beatles, Elvis and even Michael Jackson. 


Blashphemy, you say? Oh really? Think about this: These western pop stars are a product of modern western "culture" and society. What percentage of the world is that? Did you know that China and India's population is more than 8 times that of the USA?


I wonder how many Beatles records have been sold in China or India? Compare that with the effect that Apple products have had in those countries.


I'll bet you that for every one Japanese person in Tokyo who owns a Beatles recording, there are 40 or more who own some sort of digital device... And, in these digital devices, Apple's influence has been massive.


Now, Steve Jobs seems to be ill again. I feel sad. And I bet there are many more like me who feel sad too!


When I was a university student in 1980, it was reported that John Lennon had been shot that night in December. My friends and I were all watching a very important NFL football game on TV. When it was confirmed that John Lennon died, the football game, that seemed so important moments before, was not important anymore. We turned off the TV and went to bed.


Think about that.


When a rock star or movie star gets sick the public cries. But when the president of some big company gets ill or dies, no one sheds a tear.... But... Steve Jobs, like Apple, is different.


It puzzles me that I feel this way, but I guess it is because guys like Michael Jackson, John Lennon, Elvis Presley represent the style of living icons of a bygone era. Steve Jobs is the first super star icon of the digital age.

The Last Superstars of a Bygone Era?

Let's hope that he gets better and sticks around longer, if even for a day, to make all of our lives just a tad bit better. 


Because when Steve Jobs is gone, the world will lose someone who vastly improved all of our lives. When he is gone, an era will end and, with that, another chapter in our lives will come to a close.


Please rest well and recover your health, Steve Jobs. We all wait for your return. 




This was inspired by Steve Jobs and for my friend's Paul Kitabayashi at Apple and John Flanaghan at iTunes

Steve Jobs is in the News for Doing Something Stupid Again!

Hey, is it just me or does it seem like Steve Jobs has done a bunch of stupid things recently?

What did he do this time? Well, I guess he got pissed off and snappy at some college girl's persistence and, instead of just deleting her e-mail, he stupidly wrote back an idiot response.

(Hey Steve! Don't I remember somewhere when you said that people these days have to be persistant to be successful?)

An article from PR Daily reports:

A college journalism student in New York says she’s learned a valuable lesson on customer service and business from none other than Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Last week, Chelsea Isaacs was working on an assignment about iPads as a teaching tool when she decided to track down quotes from off-campus sources. She called Apple's PR department six times, but there was no answer. Isaacs managed to find an email address for Steve Jobs himself, and she fired off a message. Jobs, as he’s known to sometimes do, wrote back — with a cold response, which sparked a verbal battle between the two. Our goals, he said, do not include helping you get a good grade. Isaacs asked: “If you get a message from a customer isn't it your job to return the call? That's what I always thought, but I guess it's not one of your goals.” Among Jobs’ final words: “Nope … please leave us alone.” — Susan Young Related ABC News Isaacs appeared on “Good Morning America” yesterday to talk about the incident. Apple PR’s response? [Crickets] Here’s the video. 



Come on, Steve... You are our hero... Why do you keep doing these dumb things and making yourself look stupid? You are starting to act like a grouchy old man and it's not cool.

Go to ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/steve-jobs-student-chelsea-isaacs-leave-us-alone-11688144

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Keywords: Steve Jobs, Apple, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, Marketing Japan, college girl, Mike Rogers

Steve Jobs in Altercation at Japanese Airport? No. Never Happened.

The news was reporting that Steve Jobs was held up at a Japanese airport because he had "Ninja Stars" (Shuriken) in his luggage. The articles claim that Steve Jobs was furious at airport officials who grilled him on why he needed these weapons when he was about to board a plane. The stories claim that Jobs got angry because they insinuated that he might want to hijack an aircraft... Problem is that Jobs came in on his own private jet.

"Why would he hijack his own plane?" was the basic joke of the article.

But now we find out that this is absolutely untrue and this story never happened at all.

As reported in TG Daily:

A Japanese tabloid magazine reported that Steve Jobs ran into a bit of an issue at a local airport while on vacation. But no one really took it seriously until Bloomberg decided it was worth reporting.

SPA! Magazine wrote an eye-catching story about Jobs being held at the airport because officials found ninja throwing stars, known as shuriken, in his luggage. The story goes on to say that Jobs got in an altercation with the security personnel and then stormed onto his private plane, without the ninja gear, shouting he would never return to Japan again.

With the clout of Bloomberg getting behind the story, headlines popped up all over the place suggesting Steve Jobs was some sort of secret covert ninja.

Apple has now officially responded to the media field day, saying in no uncertain terms that Jobs is not a ninja.

An official company statement reads, "Steve did visit Japan this summer for a vacation in Kyoto, but the incidents described at the airport are pure fiction. Steve had a great time and hopes to visit Japan again soon."

It's unfortunate, because Jobs definitely has the build of a ninja and is already used to wearing black. But now we have to wonder if official news outlets in Japan take seriously reports thatOprah had to have secret life-saving surgery

Thanks to NewsonJapan

Marketing Japan: Apple iPhone 4 More Reliable than 3GS!!!...

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

Well the results are in. Fortune magazine reports that customer satisfaction with the new iPhone 4 is a disastrously low 93%...

93%!? That's not low... That's great! Er, wait a minute. Let me re-check those stats... Let's see here. ...Yep. That's what it says, 93%.... 93% customer satisfaction!? That's great!

The article says:

"ChangeWave poll finds 93% satisfied with their new iPhone, down from 99% last year."


Yeah, I guess those are disastrous numbers.... I mean if you are a kick a*s company like Apple Computers. If you were most any other USA company like Ford, Microsoft, Chevrolet, General Motors, (your pet peeve American company's name here), you'd probably be happy if 60% of your customers didn't want to go postal on you at one time or another during the calendar year.


Yeah, disastrous. Last year's customer satisfaction with iPhone 3GS was 99%... I guess if they didn't hit 100% this year, it would have to be considered a failure. 


Yeah right. Failure. Michael Jackson's "Thriller", the biggest selling album in music history, sat at number one on the Billboard charts for 37 weeks and sold more than 25 million records in 1982. Second only to West Side Story.

Disastrous results with only 18 million albums sold!

Jackson's following album, "Bad", only sold something in the neighborhood of 18 million records, so, I guess compared to Thriller, many people thought "Bad" was a failure.


Fortune Magazine surveyed 213 new iPhone 4 owners and the results were excellent. The biggest surprise was that, in spite of claims, the iPhone 4 was more reliable than the iPhone 3GS, when it came to dropped telephone calls than the iPhone!


"The biggest surprise, however, was that when iPhone 4 owners were asked how frequently they had experienced dropped calls, the results were actually lower than when iPhone 3GS owners were asked the same question last year: 5.2% vs. 6.3%, a 17.46% reduction in reported dropped calls." 

Now isn't that a nice surprise! 


I did write before that I thought it wasn't good that my hero Steve Jobs made excuses, but I am very happy to hear this news...


Especially since I nightly stick pins in my Bill Gates voodoo doll.


Good news for Apple. Now, for the next iPhone, let's go for 120% customer satisfaction! If any American company could pull that off, Apple can!


See original Fortune Magazine article here.


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Keywords:


General Motors, Mike Rogers, Apple, iPhone 4, Microsoft, Steve Jobs, Fortune Magazine, iPhone 3GS, dropped calls, Bill Gates, Marketing Japan, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, Ford, Chevrolet, Michael Jackson, Bad, Thriller 

Piling on Steve Jobs

Remember that blog I wrote a few days ago complaining about Steve Jobs' whining? Well, it seems that others are now getting in on the action.

Steve Jobs from the good old days

Here's a post at ZDNet asking for Steve Jobs to retire!

These guys really go for the jugular... OK, I don't, but I'm not a tekkie... I guess ZDNet can. From the article:

Friday’s event was deeply disturbing. There you were, up there on stage, mocking genuinely valid concerns over the fundamental performance of your flagship product, arrogantly denying credible analysis by some of the most reputable product testers on the planet, telling members of the press that you love your users so much that you’ve built 300 Apple retail stores just for them.

The whole thing was embarrassing. It was beneath you.

These guys really blast Jobs.

Well, OK... I'll take credit for lavishing on the complaints first, but I won't go as far to ask for Jobs to retire.

Even though, all things considered, I guess he should.

When a guy like Steve Jobs loses the confidence of the Tekkies and geeks, I guess he's finished. What do barbeque chefs say? "Put a fork in 'em. They're done."

Or, perhaps, if Jobs leaves, then Apple will begin the slow decline since it seems that Apple is built around a Cult of Personality.

We'll see.

Marketing Japan: Apple Not Perfect? Impossible!

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

I hope the title of this blog grabbed your attention. I mean, Apple is god. Welcome to my Saturday blog.

Well, first up, Apple CEO Steve Jobs admits that, as far as Apple is concerned, "We're not perfect." What!? That's impossible! As far as I am concerned (and millions upon tens of millions of Apple product users too) Apple is perfect. And, make no mistake, I am not one of those frothing at the mouth Apple lovers that you see running around.

I am cool and collected when it comes to Apple products. I don't drool and lust over them like most of my foolish friends do. Yes, I admit that I have two Apple computers and two iPhones, but haven't yet been rabid enough to buy an iPad. I am considering that purchase as any responsible adult should.

But frankly speaking, Apple is nothing like Microsoft. Microsoft ships us out a crap product that doesn't work properly even before it is shipped (OK, so this time iPhone has a bug); Apple offers us service and after care; not like Microsoft where, if you have a problem, good luck getting any human interaction to help you and answer your questions; and Apple is an innovator. Microsoft seems to have lost that "zeal," that lust it once had.

Microsoft is turning into a company like 3M... They will always be around. They will always make money... But, like Scotch Tape, their products do not capture the imagination... Especially of the young.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs dropped my jaw when he admitted something at a press conference that I thought I'd never hear him say, "We're not perfect..." He added "Phones aren't perfect."  

Apple not perfect!? APPLE NOT PERFECT!? APPLE NOT PERFECT!!!??? Kill me now, God, for I am ready to die!

Then Jobs adds fuel to the fire by saying something stupid like the president of Toyota would say, "We're not feeling right now that we have a giant problem we need to fix. This has been blown so out of proportion that it's incredible."


No! No! NO! Jobs! You just have to say "We're very sorry. We guarantee that we will make our customers happy. Everyone will be satisfied with our solution. We will fix the iPhones or replace them. We will be the best. Why? Because we are Apple." 


Mr. Jobs, you are Apple. This is what people are expecting to hear. Not wimpy excuses.... We don't want to hear this poncy hairdresser stuff coming from your mouth. ....


Oh, wait, what's that? He does, later on, say what needs to be said?


"We're going to do whatever it takes to make them happy and if we can't make them happy we're going to give them a full refund and say we're really sorry we inconvenienced you, and we're going to do better next time,"  


Very well done, Mr. Jobs. That's what we wanted to hear. That's what Apple does. On the other hand, Microsoft would have offered to send out a patch (that didn't work) and then another patch after that to fix the first patch, and then so on and so on... (If the patches don't work you get to call someone in Bombay.... Good luck with that!)


Great! So Apple is back to being Apple. Now, how to get my wife to give me the money for that iPad that I have been lusting after?... I could sneak the money out of her purse when she's not looking, or....


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Keywords: Apple, iPhone, Steve Jobs, Microsoft, Mike Rogers, iPad,