Steve Jobs: 'Pad? That's my word'
New frontiers in control freakiness
The latest off-the-cuff email from Steve Jobs has injected another soupçon of silliness into the ongoing kerfuffle over the iPad's name - and in doing so, it has further established the CEO of the Decade's reputation for imperious disregard for the developers who have contributed mightily to his company's success.
Jobs' most recent dismissive missive came in response to an email sent by the developer of iPad apps formerly named journalPad and journalPad: Bible Study Editon, but now - following the dictates of Apple's App Store Police - renamed journal.APP and bibleStudy.APP.
The dev, Chris Ostmo, tells 9to5Mac that he sent an email to Jobs noting that his company had spent "tens of thousands of dollars" marketing its apps and that changing the apps' names would require him "to spend tens of thousands of dollars more to market new names."
This sort of sudden policy change is the kind of thing that is destroying Apple's relationship with developers. Small companies like ours cannot continue to take financial blows like that and justify remaining on the iPhone/Pod/Pad platform.
Jobs's response: "Its just common sense to not use another company's trademarks in your app name."
In addition to the lack of an apostrophe in "Its" and the inelegant splitting of an infinitive, there's another error implied by Jobs' succinct brush off: Apple doesn't have a trademark on the word "Pad."
In Apple's list of its 185 trademarks, the three-letter sequence "P-a-d" appears in only two - namely iPad ("mobile digital device") and MacPAD ("application program").
And then there's the matter of the Jobsian pot calling the trademark-infringement kettle black. Even before Jobs introduced the iPad back in January, Fujitsu reminded Cupertino that the name iPad was theirs, not Apple's. Apple and Fujitsu soon came to a settlement that transferred the name to Apple in the US - terms were not disclosed.
And as The Reg reported earlier today, Apple is in violation of a Brazillian trademark for the name iPad, which is owned in that country by a Korean defibrilator-maker, Cu Medical Systems.
Plus, as we've pointed out before, the name iPad is being used by a variety of products: a credit-card swiper, pre-fab home, proposed residential tower, commercial-kitchen hardware, bra padding, and perhaps most oddly, a memo-taking iPhone app that as of Tuesday morning was still available in the App Store.
Of that line-up, the item that shares the electronics space with Apple's iPad is MagTek's encrypted credit-card swiper. Our calls to MagTek - an internationally distributed security-device company headquartered in Seal Beach, California - asking if they have either been contacted by Apple or have called Cupertino themselves were unanswered by the time we posted this story.
But Jobs contends that the word "Pad" is his. Whether or not his shoot-from-the-hip claim has any legal merit (Note to Apple lawyers: take away Steve's iPhone.) is, however, beside the point. And not only because Apple's trademark guidelines prevent the use of Apple-owned terms "in whole or in part" - although exactly what "in part" might mean is mind-numbingly amorphous.
What makes the legal underpinnings of Jobs' implied claim that Apple has a trademark on the word "Pad" meaningless is that whether or not his assertion is true, Apple still reserves the right to deny an app a place in the iTunes App Store simply because it wants to. Cupertino's iPhone Developer Program License Agreement spells it out in black and white: "Apple may, in its sole discretion ... reject Your Application for distribution for any reason, even if Your Application meets the Documentation and Program Requirements."
Chris Ostmo, the developer of the previously named journalPad, may have been right when he said "This sort of sudden policy change is the kind of thing that is destroying Apple's relationship with developers," but it's not just the "sudden policy change" that's destroying that relationship.
It's the "my way or the highway" arrogance of Steven P. Jobs. ®
COMMENTS
I found this to be pretty funny, on the subject of relevance
From http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/03/an-open-letter-to-dr-laura-schlesinger.html
Time for a change of pace. This came via e-mail from Marshall Auerback:
In her radio show, Dr. Laura Schlesinger (a popular conservative radio talk show host in the USA) said that homosexuality is an abomination according to the Bible Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following response is an open letter to Dr. Laura, and was attributed to a James M. Kauffman, Ed. D.
_______________________
Dear Dr. Laura:
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination… end of
debate.
I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God’s Laws and how to follow them.
1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?
2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual unseemliness – Lev. 15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.
4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord – Lev. 1:9. The problem is my neighbours. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
5. I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2. clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?
6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination – Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can you settle this? Are there ‘degrees’ of abomination?
7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?
8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?
9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really
necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev. 24:10-16. Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help.
Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.
Your adoring fan,
James M. Kauffman, Ed. D.
Professor Emeritus Dept. of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education
University of Virginia
The thing about that
is that while there are 100 million apps for the iPhone out there, every iPhone user already has both of the useful ones...
Arrogance and genius has it's price...
... it can make you turn into a giant knob-end.
Then again, I suspect that his 'Jobness' has always been an annoyingly single minded control freak.
... so long as he's happy with his small willy, that's all that counts ... ;)
Oops...
You forgot the joke icon there, AC... Here, I'll put it for you.
