Apple fan tells Tim Cook that iPad helped grandfather cope with cancer, gets reply

AppleInsider

Apple CEO Tim Cook this week responded to an email sent by a customer who explained how iPad and iPhone helped their grandfather recover from cancer surgery -- like an Apple commercial come to life.

Source: Reddit

Posted to Reddit on Monday, Cook's reply to a letter written by user "bhanel" references a heartwarming story highlighting the real life impact iOS usability features can have on device owners.

"[Cook's] reply was brief, but I'm impressed that he took the time to read my letter and respond at all," the Reddit post reads. "I think it's great that he takes time to read and respond to emails regular folks send him. I just thought I would share my story with you guys."

In the letter to Cook, "bhanel" explained that their grandfather had undergone bladder surgery after being diagnosed with cancer late last year. The operation expectedly took its toll, leaving the former U.S. Navy man, pastor and business owner in pain, too weak to use his old flip phone.

During the holidays last year, the unnamed man received a gift from his grandchild, a new iPad Air picked up from the local Apple Store (customer service was excellent, "bhanel" said). He didn't know how to use a computer, but after a being taught the basics the man was able to install apps on his own, and even started a dialogue with his doctor via FaceTime.

Two weeks later and the grandfather had taught his wife how to use iPad and ditched his old flip phone for a new iPhone 6, a transition he told "bhanel" was made easy thanks to the consistent user experience Apple provides across iOS devices.

It looks like Apple won over a new convert.

cali

People don't understand that Apple's simplicity has opened the world of technology to the people.

Apple gets bashed for this too.

Rayz2016

cali said:

People don't understand that Apple's simplicity has opened the world of technology to the people.

Apple gets bashed for this too.

Yet another reason why Tim Cook should be fired! Instead of making a product that enriched this veteran's life, Cook should have fleeced his medical records and sold them to the highest bidder! That would have increased the share price and made me a littler bit richer!

raz0r

This is not surprising, actually. Jobs was also doing this. He did actually read emails and would reply to people. Whether the email was about a problem or something more personal, he often enough actually did take the time to read and reply. He also had an open-door policy at the company itself, where employees of Apple could visit him, tell him about their problems and he would try to help.

It's a heartwarming story and my heart goes out to these people. It's also nice to see Cook doing the same as his predecessor. If for no other reason than because it's a human thing to do.

macmichiel

I have sent him a ton of messages, asking when the freaking MacMini and the MacPro will be updated. ZERO reply !

jcdinkins

<rant> Lets see which big media outlets run this story.  The collusion for big money/media to bring Apple's share price down as much as possible has almost finished running its course.   When you see non stop negative stories surrounding a company you know that it is a targeted attack.  The doom and gloom has passed extreme levels.  That means it is almost finished.  These corrupt scoundrels will turn their attention to Amazon next.  No where in the past two years have you read a single negative thing about that overbought balloon.  That is about to change. </rant>.  Although Tim's reply was brief, it was at least a reply.  Health is going to be an even bigger deal with the Apple Watch 2 and coming products.  Everyone cares about that.

macxpress

macmichiel said:

I have sent him a ton of messages, asking when the freaking MacMini and the MacPro will be updated. ZERO reply !

I don't know if you were kidding but if not....You will NEVER get a response with a question like that. You know Apple will not say anything about future products. I'm also sure there's someone screening those emails before they get to someone at Apple so I bet yours was trashed before it even reached Tim (or whomever you emailed). Those products will be out when they're ready. Don't hold your breath for a Mac mini with a discrete graphics card in it if thats what you're waiting for. I seriously doubt it will ever be like the previous models with 2 HD bays, expandable RAM, etc. Those days are long gone!

jcdinkins said:

<rant> Lets see which big media outlets run this story.  The collusion for big money/media to bring Apple's share price down as much as possible has almost finished running its course.   When you see non stop negative stories surrounding a company you know that it is a targeted attack.  The doom and gloom has passed extreme levels.  That means it is almost finished.  These corrupt scoundrels will turn their attention to Amazon next.  No where in the past two years have you read a single negative thing about that overbought balloon.  That is about to change. </rant>.  Although Tim's reply was brief, it was at least a reply.  Health is going to be an even bigger deal with the Apple Watch 2 and coming products.  Everyone cares about that.

I'm telling ya...the media wants Apple to fail. Its more of a story for a big company to fail than it is to report good news about a company. They could stretch this story out for months and people would tune in. Its very unfortunate yes. Too many times Apple (and other companies) do great things that go unnoticed. 

jcdinkins

macxpress said:

macmichiel said:

I have sent him a ton of messages, asking when the freaking MacMini and the MacPro will be updated. ZERO reply !

I don't know if you were kidding but if not....You will NEVER get a response with a question like that. You know Apple will not say anything about future products. I'm also sure there's someone screening those emails before they get to someone at Apple so I bet yours was trashed before it even reached Tim (or whomever you emailed). Those products will be out when they're ready. Don't hold your breath for a Mac mini with a discrete graphics card in it if thats what you're waiting for. I seriously doubt it will ever be like the previous models with 2 HD bays, expandable RAM, etc. Those days are long gone!


I'm telling ya...the media wants Apple to fail. Its more of a story for a big company to fail than it is to report good news about a company. They could stretch this story out for months and people would tune in. Its very unfortunate yes. Too many times Apple (and other companies) do great things that go unnoticed. 

Totally agree.  Some people hate winners.  Period.  And for the other guy, I do think he was kidding.  Hopefully.

lkrupp

raz0r said:

This is not surprising, actually. Jobs was also doing this. He did actually read emails and would reply to people. Whether the email was about a problem or something more personal, he often enough actually did take the time to read and reply. He also had an open-door policy at the company itself, where employees of Apple could visit him, tell him about their problems and he would try to help.

It's a heartwarming story and my heart goes out to these people. It's also nice to see Cook doing the same as his predecessor. If for no other reason than because it's a human thing to do.

Don’t kid yourself. CEOs don’t have the time to read all the emails they get. Their emails from the pubic are read and filtered by underlings. Those that meet certain criteria are forwarded to them. My guess is that Tim Cook gets tens of thousand of emails per day. Half of them are from sog35 demanding he resign. It is certainly a good thing that Apple’s CEO responds to some of his emails, especially ones like the one in this article, but there’s definitely a procedure in place to deal with this.

macxpress

jcdinkins said:

macxpress said:

I don't know if you were kidding but if not....You will NEVER get a response with a question like that. You know Apple will not say anything about future products. I'm also sure there's someone screening those emails before they get to someone at Apple so I bet yours was trashed before it even reached Tim (or whomever you emailed). Those products will be out when they're ready. Don't hold your breath for a Mac mini with a discrete graphics card in it if thats what you're waiting for. I seriously doubt it will ever be like the previous models with 2 HD bays, expandable RAM, etc. Those days are long gone!


I'm telling ya...the media wants Apple to fail. Its more of a story for a big company to fail than it is to report good news about a company. They could stretch this story out for months and people would tune in. Its very unfortunate yes. Too many times Apple (and other companies) do great things that go unnoticed. 

Totally agree.  Some people hate winners.  Period.  And for the other guy, I do think he was kidding.  Hopefully.

I'm getting really sick and tired of hearing about Apple's stock price. Its all the media talks about. I really couldn't care less about Apple's stock price and doesn't tell me how well Apple is, or isn't doing. Well all the negative media, of course the stock is down, but that doesn't mean Apple is failing! I mean they ONLY had a $11 Billion profit last quarter. When they start continuously losing money every quarter, or barely making money then we'll start talking. But when you see multi-billion dollar profits its hardly the sign of a failing company IMO. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I wish Apple was private company so they didn't have shareholders who think they know how to run Apple better than Apple. I know some people think its a stupid comment because "Companies can't own themselves", but I still believe in this and will continue to say it. 

Ed T

About 8 months ago I sent an email to Tim Cook about an issue I was having with my MAC & Apple Music, I received a phone call the next morning from Tom Cook's office. The individual left a message & a return phone number and called again that afternoon. The person quickly resolved the issue I was having and then someone else called a few days later to make sure everything was OK. How many companies are that responsive to their Customers?

isteelers

lkrupp said:

raz0r said:

This is not surprising, actually. Jobs was also doing this. He did actually read emails and would reply to people. Whether the email was about a problem or something more personal, he often enough actually did take the time to read and reply. He also had an open-door policy at the company itself, where employees of Apple could visit him, tell him about their problems and he would try to help.

It's a heartwarming story and my heart goes out to these people. It's also nice to see Cook doing the same as his predecessor. If for no other reason than because it's a human thing to do.

Don’t kid yourself. CEOs don’t have the time to read all the emails they get. Their emails from the pubic are read and filtered by underlings. Those that meet certain criteria are forwarded to them. My guess is that Tim Cook gets tens of thousand of emails per day. Half of them are from sog35 demanding he resign. It is certainly a good thing that Apple’s CEO responds to some of his emails, especially ones like the one in this article, but there’s definitely a procedure in place to deal with this.

Of course emails are filtered up to the CEO. That's SOP for every major corporation. Bu the fact is even with screening Tim probably has a ton of emails to go through, and it was nice of him to take the time to respond. Every hour of that mans life is scheduled in advance and it was a nice gesture on his part.

ps. The line about Sog was very funny. 

gatorguy

Ed T said:

About 8 months ago I sent an email to Tim Cook about an issue I was having with my MAC & Apple Music, I received a phone call the next morning from Tom Cook's office. The individual left a message & a return phone number and called again that afternoon. The person quickly resolved the issue I was having and then someone else called a few days later to make sure everything was OK. How many companies are that responsive to their Customers?

I had a similar experience with Verizon of all companies.

I made a change in our business plan and the Verizon quote didn't match the email confirmation of the change in service.  Worse they shut off our previous service before connecting the new one. I got little sympathy from Verizon's customer service, even the supervisor who said call her then wouldn't answer calls, so I sent an email directly to the regional vice-president. Within an hour I rec'd a phone call from his personal secretary, who made a call to the local office (and spoke with that supervisor who I suspect no longer is employed) and had my phones reconnected the same day where the supervisor would only say "within 72 hours". She then offered me a discount for the next 12 months for my inconvenience, and manually changed my billing to match the quote I was given. Every month for a year she would reach out and confirm the bill was correct and my my service was good. 

TBH it was much more than I would have expected from them given their general reputation. Perhaps contacting the head of the company may work more often than not if you have a major issue. 

slurpy

Rayz2016 said:

cali said:

People don't understand that Apple's simplicity has opened the world of technology to the people.

Apple gets bashed for this too.

Yet another reason why Tim Cook should be fired! Instead of making a product that enriched this veteran's life, Cook should have fleeced his medical records and sold them to the highest bidder! That would have increased the share price and made me a littler bit richer!

Signed, sog35.

jungmark

jcdinkins said:

macxpress said:

I don't know if you were kidding but if not....You will NEVER get a response with a question like that. You know Apple will not say anything about future products. I'm also sure there's someone screening those emails before they get to someone at Apple so I bet yours was trashed before it even reached Tim (or whomever you emailed). Those products will be out when they're ready. Don't hold your breath for a Mac mini with a discrete graphics card in it if thats what you're waiting for. I seriously doubt it will ever be like the previous models with 2 HD bays, expandable RAM, etc. Those days are long gone!


I'm telling ya...the media wants Apple to fail. Its more of a story for a big company to fail than it is to report good news about a company. They could stretch this story out for months and people would tune in. Its very unfortunate yes. Too many times Apple (and other companies) do great things that go unnoticed. 

Totally agree.  Some people hate winners.  Period.  And for the other guy, I do think he was kidding.  Hopefully.

It's the American pastime. The media builds people up in the hopes of a dramatic fall. It's all about Ratings and page clicks. 

jungmark

slurpy said:

Rayz2016 said:

Yet another reason why Tim Cook should be fired! Instead of making a product that enriched this veteran's life, Cook should have fleeced his medical records and sold them to the highest bidder! That would have increased the share price and made me a littler bit richer!

Signed, sog35.

My thoughts exactly. Too bad he's been blocked already. 

raz0r

lkrupp said:

raz0r said:

This is not surprising, actually. Jobs was also doing this. He did actually read emails and would reply to people. Whether the email was about a problem or something more personal, he often enough actually did take the time to read and reply. He also had an open-door policy at the company itself, where employees of Apple could visit him, tell him about their problems and he would try to help.

It's a heartwarming story and my heart goes out to these people. It's also nice to see Cook doing the same as his predecessor. If for no other reason than because it's a human thing to do.

Don’t kid yourself. CEOs don’t have the time to read all the emails they get. Their emails from the pubic are read and filtered by underlings. Those that meet certain criteria are forwarded to them. My guess is that Tim Cook gets tens of thousand of emails per day. Half of them are from sog35 demanding he resign. It is certainly a good thing that Apple’s CEO responds to some of his emails, especially ones like the one in this article, but there’s definitely a procedure in place to deal with this.

I never said that he reads all emails I'm perfectly aware that his inbox is busting at the seams as it is and that these are most likely filtered in one way or another. My point is that he doesn't really have to do that. As a CEO of a huge company like Apple, he could justifiably say "too busy gtfo" lol
But he doesn't seem to be doing that. And as minor as it seems, it's nice to hear that he's actually taking the time to do this. In a world where there seems to be a lot of hate going on, it's nice to see little touches of humanity.

Rayz2016

macmichiel said:

I have sent him a ton of messages, asking when the freaking MacMini and the MacPro will be updated. ZERO reply !

Perhaps it was the way you phrased the question.