Steve Jobs vs. Gawker’s Ryan Tate, About The iPad Eco-System, Porn, And Freedom

By dag | May 16, 2010 | 11 comments

At some point in our lives, we all get involved with a late night email fight… but this one is one of a kind. When you happen to rub Steve Jobs the wrong way, he actually takes the time to respond.

Ryan Tate, the editor of the Gawker Media technology site Valleywag, felt like writing to Steve Jobs after watching the new iPad commercial, as he disagreed with the fact that the ad compared the iPad to “a revolution”. In an unusual move, Jobs apparently took the bait and fired back at Tate, defending his company and explaining his views on sensitive topics such as porn, and censorship.

Jobs insisted that Apple’s recent moves were meant to shield users from “programs that steal your private data”, and were meant to keep users away from “programs that trash your battery”, such as Flash. Most of all, Jobs insisted on the fact that the iPhone/iPad platform was free “from porn”, something that has always been important to him (remember, Jobs is a major Disney shareholder).

The emails went back on forth, with Tate arguing that Jobs and his company were “imposing” their morality, “about porn, about trade secrets, about technical purity in the most bizarre sense”. However, Jobs was clear about his views, Apple is not here to control your experience, in his opinion all Apple does is to make sure that the end user’s experience is simply as good as it can get.

Jobs couldn’t resist ending his last email with this statement: “what have you done that’s so great? do you create anything, or just criticize others work and belittle their motivations?”. A bit brutal, but straight to the point: instead of complaining, make a difference, and then Apple may care about what you have to say.

The complete email exchange is available here.

About dag: Certified geek

http://davidahn.wordpress.com david

this made my view of Gawker and their network (including Gizmodo) even lower. they are really proving to just rely on sensational reporting. i, for one, appreciate the control that Apple exerts on their app store. i do wish they allowed other ways to install apps, but i appreciate that the app store remains somewhat filtered and moderated. the app store has its flaws (just too many apps to effectively search through), but the android app store is chaotic, as there is essentially no moderation (for example, apps can be placed into any category regardless of actual subject matter, and there are a lot of trashy apps).
Brian!

Victory: JOBS
http://www.sebastianhahn.de Sebastian

“what have you done that’s so great? do you create anything, or just criticize others work and belittle their motivations?”

That’s right. Have you seen those numerous videos on YouTube about the iPad? Try reading the comments. Most people commenting are real iPad bashers, they hate it and don’t conceal their opinion. What’s funny: If a guy who has tested the iPad for a week tells in a video that he likes the device and has hardly any use for his former laptop anymore, people comment that this is wrong, he’s lying and so on.

Strange, ain’t it? Usually, most people who don’t like a product just don’t buy it. But the iPad really gets some attention by people who are plainly Apple haters.

Coming back to the quote above: It’s just the same. If you build a store you can set the rules. That’s all.

If you don’t like the App-store model go for something else (how ’bout M$ Marketplace…). People are always complaining about Apple and their *high* prices, their *non-working* stuff etc. etc. Nevertheless people keep buying – no person I know has changed from Mac to something else (it’s always the other way round).
antiapple

Jobs: “what have you done that’s so great? do you create millions from the stupid apple fan boys, or just criticize me for my greed?”
http://pcmacsmackdown.com smackman

I’ll make this short and to the point. Apple is one of a few companies that has one simple mission: make the best product they know how and success will follow.

Gawker…keep digging that hole!

(this was written on my iPad)

http://couchguy.tumblr.com Guy (CouchGuy) McLimore

antiapple: Your handle pretty much says it all. You aren’t for anything. You just hate anything from Apple. Anyone who doesn’t want what you want is dismissed as a stupid Apple fanboy. You offer nothing constructive or useful. What Jobs does to appeal to a segment of the market you mark as greed. How is Adobe attempting to force hardware manufacturer’s to keep supporting Flash — increasingly irrelevant in general and demonstrably unsuited for a mobile platform — anything BUT greed?

Shock Me

I had someone tell me they’d actually rather have viruses, shorter battery life, and gave to buy a new phone just to run flash. maybe Adobe needs to enter the hardware business?

I think Angry birds until this all blows over.
Gwen

Jobs 1 – Gawker 0
Tyranyblows

Steve Jobs is such a has been. I bet you he will magically change his mind when the google tablets are out.
Eric

You know PadGadget is a success when he trolls take the time to show up.
Mezzrow

Looks like Ryan Tate is just spoiling for a fight. I can’t see that much of his side of the exchange is constructive of adds anything to the debate. Steve seemed pretty restrained in his responses, so the other guy comes off as angry and immature. I read Gizmodo, but I’ll continue to stay away from Gawker.