Dialy Lessons from Life 17 July 2010 - Apple iPhone 4G 'Problems'

Well. It was painful to learn of the going on at the specially arranged press conference by Apple to explain the challenges it faced with the reception of its newest killer product - iPhone 4G.

Why? There appeared to be some slow responses and, uncharacteristically, for this disciplined innovative and secretive company, different explanations were offered. It is also unusual for Steve Jobs, the CEO, to be fronting this special conference!

Lessons for me are:

1. technologies can prove challenging even for the current best-of-the-best company. I am sure tremendous resources had been invested in finding out what happened and how can the company overcome and resolve the 'higher' than normal drop call issues comprehensively and speedily. Still, the appearance of being humble MUST be maintained. This I think is something Jobs and Apple are not used to, having been the superstars for the last few years!;

2. apparently Jobs only apologized after being asked by some of the journalists if Apple is sorry for this slip up and the inconvenience it brought to its legendary loyal fans! This really validated the unfortunately, oft quoted saying that: to err is human, and to lose face is unthinkable and very difficult to accept! If they assessed the damages to be insignificant, it is an opportunity missed to show that Apple is a very successful company that DOES NOT merely compared itself to its catch-Apple-if-you-can competitors! So, beware to slip from being self-confident to self-conceited!;

3. for the avid Apple fans, this set back will NOT deter them from continuing to ask for Apple products. There, however, appeared to have affect some of the non-fan or neutral. The PR response was not Apple-class! Not perfect!! Not very well coordinated and a tad slow! Hopefully the company and Jobs can improve.

4. Seriously, for someone who has cheated death, I am a bit puzzled by Jobs' drive to success and be 'perfect' with every product that he launched! There were a lot of talk that Apple is NOT a one-man show but many still doubt it. So, Jobs should really be taking a back seat and let his people deal with it. If they can't, it means Jobs has not succeeded in his leadership to develop people. He can dream and do things but he cannot build people! Or can he?