Steve Jobs emails 'are real' claims Boy Genius Report, says Apple PR lied to press
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted July 3rd 2010 6:01PM
posted July 3rd 2010 6:01PM
Now, Boy Genius Report (where the original story appeared) has fired back, emphatically claiming that the emails are real, and that the proof is in the original message headers which the site has been given access to by the source. BGR goes one step further as well, and essentially accuses Apple PR of spinning this story to news outlets to suit its needs. And let's not mince words -- the claim is that Apple PR is lying to the press. The proof which BGR offers is no more or less convincing to us than the site's previous post on the subject; email headers and timestamps can be faked. Still, it is notable that Boy Genius is pushing back on this story, and we certainly don't believe the blog would knowingly publish a false email thread. As TechCrunch points out in its take on the matter, PR reps often give vague, sugarcoated, or misleading information to news sites, but there has never been a time when Apple's PR has outright lied to major publications (that we know of). That would be a mess of epic proportions, and we can't really fathom why they would go to the trouble. The company has obviously let stuff like this slide for years -- this seems like an odd time (and a relatively minor story) to get up in arms about it. We've reached out to Apple for further statement on this, and will report back as soon as we hear something. In the meantime, take a look at the source link and see what BGR has to say on the matter.
i knew it!! i knew it!!!
another stunt by apple to cover up their mistakes miserably gone wrong!!
Does Jobs answer support emails as well now?
"the lady doth protest too much"
Everyone knows that sj runs apple with an iron fist. Don't allow a single douche to ruin what is a good (obviously not perfect) company to suffer. The only reason why SJ is popular is because of the hard work of his engineers and r&d team.
Blame the head...not the body for this!
@hawkinsman
I blame that penis SJ.
All I want is for the damn iPhone 4 to come to Canada already
@HappyHerpes
I thought it already had, well that was according to some poster on another site who claimed the issue was due to Apple because he was using five iPhone 4's on a Canadian network which is better than AT&T and returned them all in exchange for Blackberry's.
People don't lie on the Internet so it must be true.
@hill60 Check http://www.rogers.com/web/Rogers.portal and you'll see that there is no iPhone out for mass consumption yet, they don't even have a release date for the iPhone 4 and the only information they have is that it is "Coming Soon".
I hope you were being sarcastic when you said "the internet never lies".
I think that if Steve wrote these emails, it shows bad things for the company. Yes it's great that he personally replies to emails from customers- it shows there's real people behind such a huge company- but if he's responding to customers like this- if at all to incensed customers- then all he's doing is drawing bad press to the company. I suspect some, if not all of these emails are from Jobs.
damn it
liar!
Engadget, you certainly are taking a soft line on Apple. Let's not forget that this is the company that sent the police after Gizmodo even after the prototype was returned as asked. Apple has become ravenous about protecting their image. Why is it so hard to believe that they would lie about emails that cast them in such a poor light?
@jdamb89 agreed - as josh often does - i think he gives them leniency than other companies
I can't believe all the idiots defending their demi-god, Steve Jobs. it's not good for you consumers. You must know your right. Act now while you still can because the time will come when you will all be zombies and slaves to Jobs' lies!
I believe Apple. They are in enough hot water right now with this iPhone reception issue that it would be downright stupid for them to outright lie about the emails at a time where many iPhone users are about to return their devices and go somewhere else
@Vince730 I agree that Apple is not lying about the origin of the emails. However, I disagree about the scale of the antenna issue. I know many people who have the new iPhone, several of which can get the bars to visibly decrease when held with wet hands; however none of them can get a call to drop by doing so. The only complaint I've heard directly from users is that sometimes the screen proximity sensor doesn't work correctly. I've yet to meet a person who has, or intends to, returned their iPhone.
Who gives a shit
Stevie does come off sounding rude whenever he is challenged on a topic so it wouldn't be hard to believe that this was in fact him.
If this had been any other company, and their product had a major flaw as this one Engadget would have already written the obituary for it.
hello........ it's only an email......
If steve jobs' email has been published widely, how come he can reply every single email?
I my self don't believe that sjobs@apple.com is steve jobs' email address......
Josh - i know - you arent paid by apple but you certainly aren't acting impartial here - you give apple the benefit of the doubt
it sounds legitimate - so don't give us your spin either
love you guys but often you confuse the sh1t out of me - are you journalists or bloggers.
@Gabe stop kidding yourself. they are bloggers. probably not so much the print edition, but even highly respected media sources like the WSJ have devolved into blogger-style, as well. i guess you can't blame them.
do you remember all the rumors and hype that spawned out of news of the iPad development last fall (fall 2009)? between the iPad and the iPhone 4, it's been a non-stop frenzy. and lately, a non-stop soap opera. bottom line, whether you're talking the blogosphere or mainstream media, all forms of media are 99% crap.
I don`t have these problems...I have a MOTO Droid that runs on a superior CDMA network.
Boy Genius is most likely lieing. I call BS on them. Who has more to gain from being right here? Apple who has much larger concerns than a simple email that wasnt a big deal. Or the reporting website that relies on posting "legitimate" stories exclusively to make its only source of income?
Ive lost a large amount of respect for Boy Genius
Well Steve Jobs PR team are obviously lieing - They really are having a bad year and they probably all face the sack. I feel sorry for the suckers that buy into their fruity lifestyles. Apple grow up and accept responsibility !!!
BGR comes off looking like a douche in this thing. Boil down what you have in all this.
You've got "Tom," someone stark raving mad, so angry he can't spell or use grammar going after Steve Jobs. Jobs, perhaps unwisely, answers him with his typical short messages saying to calm down, they're working on it. The bad data he refers to are the bars that are going to be re-calibrated. And that's pretty much it. There is no story to the Steve Jobs side of the emails, just typical responses.
"Tom" on the other hand, comes more and more unhinged with each response.
Then there is the "Retire, relax with your family, it's just a phone" line. Strange words, seemingly similar to a Steve Jobs response, which BGR attributes to Jobs. That's the one line that makes the thing remarkable in any way, and what gets all the tech blogs buzzing and lots of hits for BGR. Except that later, when Apple says that's a false email, BGR takes it back and says oops, my mistake. "Tom" emailed me 8 times in an hour to say that was wrong, but my spam filter got it instead. Yeah, RIGHT.
BGR claims to be a reporter with "95% or more" accuracy. A real journalist (which I am) wouldn't have falsely attributed something like this. A REAL journalist wouldn't have paid $200 for something so meaningless as this. A REAL journalist wouldn't, when called out on the falsehood of his attribute, try to peddle the "retire, relax" mumbo jumbo as coming from the same "Tom" who had spittle flying from his mouth in all the previous "emails."
Whether Jobs wrote the earlier emails or not, he definitely didn't write the last, even though BGR and maybe "Tom" tried to con everybody else into thinking that he had.
Take that line out, and it's a typical email exchange between a reasonable Steve Jobs and a belligerent person. Add that line in, and it's a big scoop for BGR that gets him on all the tech blogs and lots of publicity for his site.
Until he admits later he "made a simple mistake." Yeah, RIGHT. BGR has zero credibility now.
@danimal99 It is painfully obvious how many stupid people have access to email.
I mean, really, people. One of the true Captains of Industry bothers to respond directly to customers and what does he get for it? Arrogant assholes without the slightest concern for tact or diplomacy accosting him like he's some drunk at the bar.
Get your heads out of your asses, frat boys, and show some respect.
@danimal99 My thoughts exactly. BGR should have backed away and not reignited this. There is so much said in that last reply about how fake this whole drama is. It doesn't make any sense that that is the final succinct reply by some idiot who has been previously raging fury. It's obviously an attempt to make a story out of nothing.
see exactly Apple is full of shit. They will say anything to make themselves feel better. He sent they thats how he feels about you fan boys.
@jasev01 idiot
Please, Bozos. Post a single flat out "lie" told by Apple corporate. Make your case that the sensationalist blogger is to be believed over a legal and marketing team that has million dollar plus jobs on the line.
OK folks. The iPhone 4 internet-media extravaganza has officially jumped the shark. It started with the lost/stolen prototype 2 months ago and hasn't stopped since. You gotta be kidding me. Enough already. If this latest email exchange is real WTF? Steve Jobs is a billionaire and super successful businessman. He spends his time engaging in email conversations like this?? It doesn't matter if it was him or an apple PR person. Either way, it's totally ridiculous. Either that or it's fake.
Is Steve Jobs the next Lindsay Lohan or what? I've really had my fill. Enough already.
Engadget, please explain to me how this is a minor story. The most popular phone in the world is having a plethora of problems, and the CEO of that phone company basically takes a dump on one of their customers, BS's about the problem, which happens to be a very real problem that tons of people are having, and lies to them and anyone else following the thing. How is that a minor story? 7 pages and counting during the 4th of July weekend isn't a minor story. And IMHO, I think the emails are indeed 100% real. At first, when I read the emails, I did have a level of skepticism, but also thought there was a good chance they were real because I can definitely see Steve "Evil" Jobs saying something exactly like that. The more I've followed this story, the more real I think the emails are. Before you decide whether the emails are real or not, you owe it to yourself to check the original source. Go to BGR and read their recent follow up on this story: http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/07/03/the-entire-steve-jobs-email-story-its-real/
@jawman What was it that Steve said that you would equate with "taking a dump" on this customer?
I think everyone clambering to stick the knives into Apple over this email exchange & the iphone 4 in general seriously appear to be unhinged foaming at the mouth ilovers/ihaters/Android fanboys, the rest of us.. you know normal people seem to be doing alright..
For a start the email exchange was nothing more than some idiot with a problem (and no spell checker) ranting and raving at the CEO of one of the biggest companies on the planet without giving the man due respect, he isn’t some till jockey at your local walmart/poundstretcher.. if your gonna email him with a grievance at least have the courtesy to write it properly without flying into the usual fanboy shit of I WILL NEVER BUYZ UR PRODUCT AGAINNNNN!!!!!1!!!11111!!.. I mean seriously WTF!?
Secondly, I have an iphone 4 and while I can certainly replicate the problem of the bars droppings (how in the fuck internal testing missed that one!?) I can’t get it to drop a call so I must be one of those lucky SOB’s who don’t rely on AT&T.. and where I reside 02 seems to hang in there, but I certainly am not denying the existence of the problem or that other people end up with dropped calls all the time, but you know what there are a few simple solutions to all this...
Buy a rubber band (get a cheap Chinese knockoff from ebay for a dollar ffs), hold it differently or take the goddamn phone back!
Seriously if I bought a tv that couldn’t give me a perfect picture, id just take the bloody thing back, I’m quite sure Apple will be more than happy to refund you.. ask yourself do you need to own a piece of tech that gives you problems and makes you upset?... it’s only a bloody phone people, there are loads of fantastic phones out there, go grab one of them and if you have spent a billion dollars in itunes and on the appstore, then go get a 3GS ffs and wait for Apple to correct the problem, just for the love of god, stop fucking constantly moaning about it...
And another thing..
How in the holy fuck did the world get to such a point where people get so passionate about a fucking mobile phone, ye’s are all like fucking jihadist’s to listen to you lot day in and day out and that applies to both apple and android fanatics, you lot are a fucking joke, again, ITS A FUCKING MOBILE PHONE YOU MUPPETS!
thankyou
@Bongo123
"How in the holy fuck did the world get to such a point where people get so passionate about a fucking mobile phone"
Jeez, someone should have a quick check on the colours of pots and kettles.
@Bongo123
Well stated comment Bongo123.
If your iphone 4 doesn't work as you feel it should return it. I believe half the people with dogs in this fight don't even own the new phone and have no first hand knowledge of the reception problem.
Of course because no one ever lies.
Obviously one or the other is lying. Either the headers are fake, or Apple doesn't want the public to know you can express your frustration right to Jobs and he'll tell you to get bent directly. You know, rather than having customer service do it for him.
It could be a hoax or it could be apple spin. We'll likely never know.
The mis-attribution is the most fishy part of the whole story. Why would Jason tell Steve to calm down and enjoy his family that it was just a phone and not worth getting all worked up about? Jason is the one who is obviously worked up and berading Steve with some very regrettable comments. I just don't believe that any person in that type of dialogue would talk to him like that, apple fanboy or not, he has respect for him and that fake thread shows none. I think that last reply being initially "mistakenly" attributed to Steve says so much about the conversation that happened in Jason's head, shame on him.
Maybe someone should look at the maillog and get better informed...
Steve Jobs is a crazy narcissist?
Story of the century right there!
"The company has obviously let stuff like this slide for years -- this seems like an odd time (and a relatively minor story) to get up in arms about it."
Minor story? Seriously?
Josh - this is your struggle.. you are a reporter of sorts, but you also love apple more than your mother.. WOW
"but there has never been a time when Apple's PR has outright lied to major publications (that we know of)."
iPhone 3G; now with full Microsoft Exchange support*!
*until we release a new phone and you'll realize that there never was any device-level encryption when we release iPhone OS 3.0. But really, what-evs.
Eh, I don't even care anymore. Steve Jobs is a dick, big surprise.