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Alleged Steve Jobs email: MobileMe to get a lot better
MacRumors is reporting on an email, which it believes to be authentic, that one of its readers received from Steve Jobs. The reader sent an email to Jobs after the frustrations over his MobileMe experiences mounted. The reader told Jobs that while he's a huge fan of Apple and "wants to stay inside the Apple ecosystem," MobileMe is making it hard to do so. The reader goes on to tell Jobs that MobileMe is almost "unusable" and cites "unreliable/unpredictable syncing" and "creating duplicate entries" as two examples of the shortcomings of MobileMe. He then asks Jobs to tell him that it will get better soon. Jobs' reply: Yes, it will get a lot better in 2011. If the email is from Steve Jobs, it's nice to hear that Apple is apparently taking steps to constantly increase the value of MobileMe. However, Jobs' answer doesn't specify just how MobileMe will get better. It's possible the sync services will become more reliable, or perhaps that Apple will add new features to MobileMe to make it more attractive to users as an annual paid service. To some, Apple recently degraded the appeal of MobileMe by making its Find My iPhone feature a free service to owners of current-generation iPads, iPhones and iPod touches.
Steve Jobs "hopes" AirPlay will support Safari and third-party apps next year
MacRumors is reporting that one of their readers emailed Steve Jobs to ask if Apple was ever going to enable AirPlay to stream videos from third-party apps or those embedded in a web page in Safari. Jobs answered: "Yep, hope to add these features to Airplay in 2011." AirPlay is the technology introduced in iOS 4.2 that enables users to stream content from their iOS devices to televisions connected to an Apple TV. A number of third-party developers have also introduced AirPlay products, like the Photofast AP1000 that allows you to stream music to your car's audio system. Currently, AirPlay video support is limited to the YouTube, Photos and Video apps that come bundled as part of iOS -- although we've seen several compelling proof-of-concept demos courtesy of our own Erica Sadun, and jailbroken devices already have an option to activate AirPlay for other apps. The addition of an AirPlay API is going to make a lot of developers happy in 2011.
Steve-mail says Keynote '11 to have AirPlay, Apple TV capabilities
TUAW received a tip from reader Jared today, who sent us a copy of an email sent to him from Steve Jobs in response to a question he had asked. We verified the email headers, and it looks like the real thing. In his email to Jobs, Jared asked if the new Apple TV would accept presentations via an iOS device or a Mac, and told his Steveness "if it will, I will go buy two at an apple store tonight." Jobs replied, "It's all coming soon. Stay tuned." As Jared pointed out, this could explain why iWork '11 was not included in the Back to the Mac presentation in October. The software suite, which is made up of Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, might be ready to roll except for the ability to beam Keynote presentations to the Apple TV via WiFi. If that's the case, we may see a release of iWork '11 soon.
Steve Jobs: AirPrint support for Mac and PCs not canceled
We reported earlier on a rumor suggesting that new iOS 4.2 AirPrint feature that allowed users to print wirelessly to any printer connected to a PC or Mac had been canceled. Because of the rumor, a frustrated MacRumors reader emailed Steve Jobs and suggested that Apple could begin to lose credibility and become known for announcing "vaporware." Steve Jobs replied with an email that simply read: AirPrint has not been pulled. Don't believe everything you read. So there you go, folks. If the email's legit (and Steve isn't mixing up the story at all), we will still see AirPrint arrive in iOS 4.2, which is set to drop any day now. Don't forget to join us at 5PM ET this afternoon for our live iOS 4.2 preview show, where we'll discuss all the new features of Apple's next mobile OS. [via MacRumors]
Steve Jobs says hardly anyone was buying the Xserve
While corporate, scientific, entertainment industry, and university buyers of the soon-to-be-dead Xserve are bemoaning the loss of the rack-mounted powerhouse, Steve Jobs has reportedly told a French Xserve customer "hardly anyone was buying them." A reader of the French MacGeneration website sent Jobs an email complaining about the pending end-of-life of the Xserve and wondering why Apple hasn't considered allowing virtualization of Mac OS X Server under VMWare or Microsoft's HyperV, or license the Xserve technology to another vendor. Jobs replied in his usual terse manner. Comments on my Friday post about Xserve show that there is widespread dissatisfaction with Apple's decision in the server administration community. AFP548 user mcal27 has even started a petition in an attempt to persuade Apple to change its mind about the decision. Unfortunately, such petitions have a dismal record of success. One of our commenters speculated that Apple might be considering a new Mac blade server, which is not entirely out of the question. Apple loves minimalist design, and blade servers are the epitomy of minimalism -- a complete server on a board which slides into a rack-mounted chassis. A lot of blades can be packed into a standard 42U equipment rack, in much higher density and lower cost than the Xserve. However, it's odd that Apple didn't make an announcement of a new server technology prior to dropping the axe on the Xserve. [via Electronista]
Can you trust a Steve Jobs email? "Nope."
A reader just emailed us to point out a post I wrote this past April. MacStories.net had published an email a developer at Chiaro Software had sent Steve Jobs to ask him if the rumors of a Mac App Store and no software running on OS X without authorization from Apple were true. Job's answer? "Nope." Yesterday's Mac App Store announcement puts a different spin on that response. Jobs sent the "nope" email in late April. It's unrealistic to think that Apple had no plans for a Mac App Store at that time -- I mean, it was less than six months ago. Does that mean Jobs was lying? Not lying so much as 'selectively answering.' The developer asked Jobs a two-part question to which Jobs answered truthfully to one part (you will still be able to install & run OS X apps on the Mac that are not bought through the Mac App Store) and left out the part where Apple was actually working on a Mac App Store. So the "nope" was true -- just not the whole truth. As my colleague Erica Sadun has pointed out, regarding Apple's future product directions and plans, when Jobs says "No" you should always hear "Maybe."
Steve Jobs emails 'are real' claims Boy Genius Report, says Apple PR lied to press
Earlier this week we reported on a story that had been doing the rounds -- another Steve Jobs email thread with an irate customer. Like many other stories about Jobs' emails to customers, this yarn centered around a user disappointed with his iPhone 4's service, and Steve's flippant responses. The first time we saw the story crop up, we were suspicious of its validity (and frankly, newsworthiness), and we became even more suspicious after AppleInsider ran an article claiming that the source of the supposed emails had been shopping the tale for cash (Engadget was not contacted by the source). We did eventually cover the story, but only after Apple itself responded to the tale, claiming -- first to Fortune and then to us -- that the emails were false, and the exchange had not happened. That struck us as particularly newsworthy, because in all our years of reporting on Steve Jobs' wild personal emails (of which there are many, many examples), we'd never heard Apple refute that the emails were coming from him. 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.
Joy of Tech creates Steve Jobs Email Reply Generator
Did you ever have one of those days where it seems like everyone is getting an email from Steve Jobs but you? Well, worry no more! The Joy of Tech has created the Steve Jobs Email Reply Generator. Using a series of drop-down menus, you can compose an email to Steve Jobs, like mine to the right. Then you can create Steve's reply and choose which device he sent it from. Reading through all of the drop-down menu options is pretty funny. However, the thing that stops short of making this gag really funny is that you can't actually send the email to yourself (or any gullible friends). You can only look at it on the screen -- which kind of defeats the purpose of an "email generator." Anyway, props to the talent at Joy of Tech, and thanks for reminding me how much I loved Mad Libs as a kid!
Steve Jobs: "Life is fragile."
Business Insider has published an email reply one of their readers received from Steve Jobs. The reader wrote to Jobs after reading a speech Jobs gave about his experience with liver disease. The BI reader, who lost his young girlfriend to melanoma-induced liver failure, wrote to express gratitude that he took the time to address the issue of creating a live donor registry for kidney transplants in California. Only a few hours later Steve wrote back: "Your [sic] most welcome, James. I'm sorry about your girlfriend. Life is fragile. Steve" Despite the grammatical error in Steve's email, Business Insider believes the email (sent from his iPad) is authentic after double-checking the header information. Steve's emails are always about tech issues. It's nice to see him addressing the more important issues in life too. For another inspiring tear-jerker, Steve's 2005 Stanford speech is always a good watch.
Steve Jobs: Apple owns "Pad" trademark
In an email from Apple, journalPad developer Chris Ostmo was told he would need to remove the word "pad" from his app's name in order to get his app updated on the App Store. Ostmo then sent an email to Steve Jobs asking him why the App Store policy had changed after a number of apps had already used the word "pad" in their names. Jobs' reply? "It's just common sense not to use another company's trademarks in your app name." The problem with Jobs' answer is that Apple does not own any trademark on the word "pad." In fact, a quick check of Apple's Trademark List reveals only two trademarks with the word "pad" in them: iPad and MacPAD. This isn't the first app Apple's rejected for using the word "pad" in the name, either -- as Jesse Waites, the developer behind ContactPad found out last week. interestingly, a few developers I've talked to say that Apple does not seem to have a problem with people using the name "App name for iPad." In spite of the fact that Apple does not own "pad," many developers may just decide to go ahead and change their app's name instead of facing a back and forth email argument with Apple and thus delaying their app's ability to be sold on the App Store. [via 9to5]
Apple to drop support for 1st gen iPhone
You could see the writing on the wall when Apple announced iPhone OS 4. Apple said most of the features will run on the iPhone 3G, and all would run on the iPhone 3GS. At no point did they mention the first generation iPhone. Steve Jobs has now confirmed what many assumed. MacStories has published an email a reader sent to Jobs asking if Apple will supply updates to the first gen iPhone in the future. Steve's answer? "Sorry, no." So unless Apple releases another minor point upgrade to iPhone OS 3 before OS 4's release, original iPhone owners can expect to be running iPhone OS 3.1.3 for as long as they keep the device.
