Apple says Steve Jobs' email replies on iPhone 4 reception were faked
A top Apple spokesperson has emphatically denied that Steve Jobs was the author of a series of comments in an email exchange regarding iPhone 4 reception.
The comments, published earlier today by Boy Genius Report, attributed a series of email-based replies to Jobs, including the responses:
"No, you are getting all worked up over a few days of rumors. Calm down."
"You are most likely in an area with very low signal strength."
"You may be working from bad data. Not your fault. Stay tuned. We are working on it."
"Retire, relax, enjoy your family. It is just a phone. Not worth it."
After the report was picked up and spread by various blogs, BGR corrected it, saying the last line was actually written by the customer, and not Jobs.
Shortly after the edit was made, Philip Elmer-DeWitt of the Fortune Apple 2.0 blog reported that a top Apple public relations spokesperson, speaking on the record, "emphatically denied" that Steve Jobs "was the author of any of these statements."
AppleInsider had previously reported that the source of the email exchange had originally offered the emails as a story, "for sale," without asking for a specific price.
The incident highlights an emerging trend where blog sites quickly publish alleged email conversations with Apple's chief executive under "exclusive" headlines designed to attract attention, with little or no effort made to either verify or or qualify the emails as potentially fake.
Many reports of email-based exchanges describe "verifying email headers," which is a completely unreliable method of determining the legitimacy of a purported exchange. Email headers are trivial to fake, and even a real email exchange could be edited afterward without any indication in the email headers or elsewhere.
The comments, published earlier today by Boy Genius Report, attributed a series of email-based replies to Jobs, including the responses:
"No, you are getting all worked up over a few days of rumors. Calm down."
"You are most likely in an area with very low signal strength."
"You may be working from bad data. Not your fault. Stay tuned. We are working on it."
"Retire, relax, enjoy your family. It is just a phone. Not worth it."
After the report was picked up and spread by various blogs, BGR corrected it, saying the last line was actually written by the customer, and not Jobs.
Shortly after the edit was made, Philip Elmer-DeWitt of the Fortune Apple 2.0 blog reported that a top Apple public relations spokesperson, speaking on the record, "emphatically denied" that Steve Jobs "was the author of any of these statements."
AppleInsider had previously reported that the source of the email exchange had originally offered the emails as a story, "for sale," without asking for a specific price.
The incident highlights an emerging trend where blog sites quickly publish alleged email conversations with Apple's chief executive under "exclusive" headlines designed to attract attention, with little or no effort made to either verify or or qualify the emails as potentially fake.
Many reports of email-based exchanges describe "verifying email headers," which is a completely unreliable method of determining the legitimacy of a purported exchange. Email headers are trivial to fake, and even a real email exchange could be edited afterward without any indication in the email headers or elsewhere.
Comments
I think we've all learned a very valuable lesson today...
Not surprising, though.
Oh boy... I'm sure tomorrow the headlines will be "Authorities seize computers and servers at Gizm... I mean... BGR HQ."
Big difference: BGR didn't buy equipment stolen from Apple and then attempt to extort further documents from Apple before agreeing to return the property.
BGR has the right to print bullshit. Fox News has set legal precedent for that in US court (!): you can't sue the media for printing things that are inaccurate, even if they are purposely, known lies.
was legitimate.
Also, one of the bogus Jobs quotes was something to the effect that "we are working on it".
That is now out the window.
Also, one of the bogus Jobs quotes was something to the effect that "we are working on it".
That is now out the window.
I thought the exact same thing. However, with all the bad PR and lawsuits arising because of this, I have to believe that they are, in fact, working on it.
At least, as an owner of an iPhone 4 that can't be held but one way, I truly hope they are...
Wow! Notice the "Stay Tuned" comment at the end of Burford's bio in AI's original story in the pic. Coincidence??
Also throws a vat of boiling hot oil on BGR's cred, doesn't it?
This episode could also have an effect on BGR's future access to Apple events. I hope the
clicks they got today were worth it.
So the dork who sold the fake e-mails to BGR is now guilty of fraud. Nice. And now everyone knows what a tool he is... and that everyone who violently reacts to fake Internetz stories with no proof is also guilty of toolish behavior.
I think we've all learned a very valuable lesson today...
Nope!
Also throws a vat of boiling hot oil on BGR's cred, doesn't it?
I'll never trust them again. Seriously.
BGR has the right to print bullshit. Fox News has set legal precedent for that in US court (!): you can't sue the media for printing things that are inaccurate, even if they are purposely, known lies.
I'm sorry. You seem to have misspelled "CBS".
A top Apple spokesperson has emphatically denied that Steve Jobs was the author of a series of comments in an email exchange regarding iPhone 4 reception.
Was this so called apple spokesperson with jobs when this was supposed to have happened.
Every comment is something jobs would say, and of course the apple spin machine is going to once again make this the publics fault.
I repeat, it is time for jobs to go, he is hurting apple in the worst way.
These fake ones were a smart fraud: they weren?t anything too interesting, making them plausible enough to find a buyer more easily.
I repeat, it is time for jobs to go, he is hurting apple in the worst way.
Words fail to describe your idiocy.
Was this so called apple spokesperson with jobs when this was supposed to have happened.
Every comment is something jobs would say, and of course the apple spin machine is going to once again make this the publics fault.
I repeat, it is time for jobs to go, he is hurting apple in the worst way.
So you think the Apple spokesperson didn't check with Jobs? Or that Jobs is lying publicly? That's truly delusional.
No spin is needed. Some greedy person thought he could make some money by fabricating pretend emails from Jobs and he got caught at it. End of discussion.
I wouldn't say that it's the public's fault, but it's clearly the fault of the lying scumbag who came up with this idea. The public, in general, doesn't give a hoot one way or the other. There is a significant subset of people who jump in on every rumor and seem to live for the latest gossip about Apple - and this encourages this type of crap, though.