Posted on 11/20/2009 12:59:16 PM PST by Star Traveler
Written on November 20, 2009 by Liam Cassidy
Gotta love that Steve Jobs. He never was one to hold back, and even now, when he’s the CEO of the Universe (or something like that), he won’t be found spouting corporate speak.
CrunchGear tells the story of a small software development company called The Little App Factory. It made an app for the Mac called iPodRip, one of those tools for transferring music from an iPod to a computer. A law firm representing Apple sent The Little App Factory a letter, informing the company it had violated some of Apple’s trademarks, and instructed it to stop using the “iPod” bit in the app’s name.
iPodRip has been around for nearly seven years and CrunchGear’s Daniel Brusilovsky says it has been downloaded more than five million times. You’d think Apple’s legal sniffer hounds, Baker & McKenzie, might have acted a tad sooner…
Anyway, iPodRip developer and The Little App Factory CEO John Devor felt this was all rather unfair, so he wrote directly to El Jobso himself. Here’s a little excerpt from his impassioned plea for special treatment sanity (edited by me for brevity, but you can read the whole thing here);
Dear Mr. Jobs,
I doubt you’re aware but we recently received a letter from a law firm working on Apple’s behalf instructing us that we had violated several of Apple’s trademarks in our application iPodRip and asking us to cease using the name and Apple trademarks in our icons.
It is quite obvious that we mean Apple no harm with the use of the name iPodRip, or of the inclusion of trademarked items in our icons… …we are quite aware that Apple support and store staff have recommended our software on numerous occasions as far back as 2004 so we have felt that we were doing something right!
With this in mind, we are in desperate need of some assistance and we beseech you to help us to protect our product and our shareware company, I myself dropped out of school recently to pursue a path in the Mac software industry, and you yourself have been a consistent inspiration for me.
If there is anything at all you can do with regards to this matter, we would be most grateful.
Best,
John Devor
Poor fellow. Obviously he has poured his heart and soul into his company, and he has worked hard this last half-decade building a strong brand and large customer base. He wants to protect his investment, and why not? Apple has, it seems, been aware of the product, to some degree, for an awfully long time, so why slap him with a C&D letter now?
So Steve Jobs gets the email and thinks about this, right? He considers the years of service this guy and his company have provided for iTunes users around the world. He considers carefully the late-in-the-game complaint from Baker & McKenzie. He feels a swell of pride at the obvious passion of those in the Mac development community who so loyally support his products and strive to make the Mac ecosystem a bigger, brighter and more worthwhile place to be. Right?
Of course not. He’s Steve Jobs, people! This is his reply:
Change your apps name. Not that big of a deal.
Steve
Sent from my iPhone
I nearly fell off my chair in laughter when I saw that. I’m not sure I agree with him that’s it’s “not that big of a deal” (after all, this company has invested many years in their brand and built a considerable customer base) but I admire Steve’s no-nonsense attitude. He says exactly what’s on his mind, no PR-spin, and sends it straight from his iPhone, typos-and-all.
The Little App Factory acquiesced (what else could it do?) and renamed the app iRip. It also changed the app’s icon. Perhaps this whole affair was a thorn in the side, but I don’t feel too sorry for them, the tech press is giving them a lot of attention right now, and that’s gotta be good for business, right?
I used the first one and wrote him about APPLE’s idiotic support of man-made global warming.
We’ll see if he responds.
Hey, its email, texting, and blogging shortcut. Oops, I meant “it’s”! I’m a tech writer, but when Im doin’ this, my brain gets ahead of my fingers and I end up using shortcuts.
It sounds more like a horse’s butt giving a little guy the back of his hand. The arrogant POS is too far removed from his own struggling days, and doesn’t appreciate the man’s dilemma. And doesn’t care.
What’s so difficult about writing proper English in blogs or emails?
ping
It sounds more like a horse’s butt giving a little guy the back of his hand.
Jobs is real tough to work with. He always has been. But, it's the being real tough to work with that has made him and the company successful. He'll get on his workers' cases for what others would consider the smallest of things in products that are being developed, being totally nit-picky about everything and demanding way beyond what anyone else in other companies would ever dare to do and/or demand.
However, that is precisely what has made these products successful. And as a user and consumer (for these products) I'm glad that someone is that demanding and nit-picky about them.
Believe me, the people who work for him shake in their shoes if they see him coming down the hall... LOL...
But, the customers love the results and also Wall Street loves the results.
The arrogant POS is too far removed from his own struggling days, and doesn’t appreciate the man’s dilemma. And doesn’t care.
Ummmm..., Jobs didn't struggle even in the beginning... LOL...
And, on the contrary, I think Jobs does appreciate this man's problem, while at the same time, Jobs is not going to hamper his legal team when protecting the company's rights, in terms of names and trademarks.
Jobs' appreciation of this man's problem was exemplified when Jobs wrote back to him. Jobs knows marketing. He knew that this one response was going to give this guy more "marketing power" for his product than he had in the last ten years combined... :-)
Jobs is the marketing expert and he knew exactly what he was doing when he wrote back to that developer.
A blurb from iPhone Savior ...
Steve Jobs Advises The Little App Factory On Re-branding Apps
The shareware in question, now safely renamed iRip, lets you copy and transfer your songs from an iPod and iPhone back to your computer. It appears that the response from Jobs is quite possibly the best thing that's happened to The Little App Factory in a long time.
Proving once again, as it's been true for several iPhone app developers, "rejection is the new acceptance". Delivering more attention for Devor's company in the press than he could have ever afforded to purchase otherwise.
So go ahead and download a copy of iRip for yourself. You have Steve Jobs to thank for it. The man is a marketing genius who understands how to re-invent. For him, the re-branding concept was "no big deal". iRip is really a much better name anyhow and the new icon rocks.
And there you have it... :-)
Too cute by half. Jobs thinks he’s God.
Jobs thinks he’s God.
And that he is... inside of Apple. And thanks goodness for that, which is why we have Macintosh and iPod and iPhone and other products that are wildly successful.
He can keep being God in Apple... LOL...
I don’t own any of his overpriced toys. And his politics are abysmal.
Too bad you don’t... they’re great... :-)
I know some people who have them. They use them like gossipy 12 year old girls with nothing else to do. Or downloading inane apps.
I don’t feel that I’m missing much in my life without them.
I don’t feel that I’m missing much in my life without them.
Well, I suppose that some people might feel that way about a computer, a phone and a portable music player.
But in my case, I use a computer and intend to keep on using one. The Apple Macintosh runs not only Macintosh software but all Windows software, too. It runs it all... :-) And I don't have to worry a bit about the over 100,000 viruses on the Windows platform. I count, on the Macintosh, less of them than the fingers on my hand in the last 10 years on the Mac OS X.
And I think I'll keep using a cel phone, too... LOL...
The iPhone does a great job of it (the normal cel phone bit) and then it does a whole lot more for me, too, making it super-easy to have a portable computer in my pocket (along with the phone part). I check e-mail, even check Free Republic, get directions on the map, make notes (verbal or written) and a whole bunch of other stuff. What people don't know that they're missing -- I guess it makes it "okay" for them. In that case, "ignorance is bliss" for those who don't know what they're missing.
As for the music, I suppose some people might not care about it and that's okay, too. In my case, I like the iPod and the music. In fact, I use it for videos, too -- carrying some videos over to friends' houses and playing them on their TVs. I like to play a particular video (a lot) and show friends and other people (it's always on my iPod). It's about the myth of Anthropogenic Global Warming and it's great to show them on their TV from my iPod... LOL...
So, I suppose some people don't care about computers, phones and music -- but that's not me.
By the way, how are you typing on Free Republic if you don't have a computer and don't care about computers? :-)
Nothing wrong with it. But most people are typing rapidly to keep up with what our brains are thinking and it’s common to make mistakes. Get a life. Better be careful. People will be on the lookout for your errors if you pick on them too much.
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