Interesting take on one CEO's true attitude toward student needs

[brecklundin]

Just found this potentially very revealing article in PC Mag (not my favorite mag anymore or, well ever but they do hit a nail every now and then) offering insight into one CEO's opinion about not only that company's users base, but more specifically, the not insubstantial portion of users who want and crave a device for academic needs.

Original article: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369340,00.asp

From this CEO's email exchange in relation to a query as to how this device will aid a student's success combined with a question why inquiries to the company's PR department when unanswered:

"Our goals do not include helping you get a good grade. Sorry,"

Snippets of the alledged email exchange: http://gawker.com/5641211/

But this is on the tails of the university/college in question beginning a program to buy every new student the device to use as part of the required gear for their courses.

To me while it is at best an obvious misunderstanding as the the purpose for the inquiry by the CEO combines with, perhaps a very poorly phrased email buy the student [it was part of an assignment given by a professor to contact this specific company], it does seem to reveal something is not right in how this CEO views the customer/user base or even anyone who asks a simple question along the lines of "...how will your device benefit my academic studies?..."

In many ways I don't think other CEO's would offer the same terse and condescending emails...and part of me still feels it's a hoax...but it sure does seem to support what history has seemed to say about this CEO when you peel away the PR puffery.

And no, I don't think the actual brand in question matters here nor the individual, but it seems to me to beg the question of which companies are going to be really "getting it" that these slate style devices are truly KEY to the future of learning & computing in general...I know for me they will be the devices I have wanted since my first 22lb Compaq "portable" which I still sweat was made by Singer Sewing Machine not Compaq (same with the Kaypro and...oh, whoever made the 3rd of this size device...) But the slate design is not new, it is just there are finally, after almost 30-years of the portable computer in use, but there are finally devices which have the power, battery life, durability combined in a highly portable package....

In the end the winner will the the device which targets the academic community at least along side the media-only consumers...while media consumption is important, if the device maker wants as much "user brand identification" as can be, not being so dismissive of the academic user would seem very key....

Anyway, I hope this ends up a hoax or simply very bad moods and poor communication between these two individuals...but if not I am sure there are a dozen companies which are eager to fill in this niche in the next 6-months and with that they could control or influence purchases of those users for a good 2-3 generations all because those companies decided to pay attention to the academic users early on...though at least one company in the "before time" tried that route with all but free hardware to schools from elementary through college and it did not do much to gain them market share. It was the business users who made that decision. However I feel this time the "winner" might well be that academic user demographic along side many professionals in the work world because the slate device is a whole different level of computing freedom.

[charleski]

It's a hoax, but if it weren't, I'd be cheering Steve Jobs on this one.

[HarryT]

I have to say that, hoax or no hoax, it seems to be an entirely reasonable answer to the question asked.

[brecklundin]

How so Harry? Not being flippant but genuinely interested in your opinion.

Personally, I don't think it unreasonable a question to ask...as in "what is your vision of how this device fits into my needs for a learning tool?" which is how I took the question, though I am not sure that is exactly how the student in this case posed the question by the time she got to emailing Jobs. And it also crossed my mind that perhaps the real exercise was to try and manipulate a person of note into a corner and snappish responses that put them in a poor light. So, nope I don't trust most media...maybe that is why I enjoy our own Charbax, he at least gives us pure video and honest video that is difficult to dispute.

BTW, as for a hoax, I feel it is highly unlikely that PC Mag is going to get fooled by a hoax...of course that was the old days when the media cared about facts. I have read enough posted Jobs responses to see this is not an unusual terse tone from Jobs.

But again, I am not asking about this because of Jobs or Apple, more in general I feel it points to a valid question to ask of ANY device maker...mainly because I see the slate devices as having HUGE potential in the world of academia.

To me it actually comes down to the apps with the hardware only important because of limits it places on what the software can do....but man have I so long wanted a slate PC, seriously it has been a good 25-30 years.

[mrscoach]

I think Harry's point was the response of not caring about someone's grades was because the original author was telling Jobs that she would get a bad grade if they didn't answer her questions. Jobs told her, basically, that her grades weren't any of his business.

Granted, I haven't read the whole exchange (or even the snippets), but I read what PC Mag wrote, and that is what was said.

[SensualPoet]

I will add that an acquaintance of mine also recently received a Steve Jobs missive that I believe is genuine. My take is that some customer complaints/concerns are filtered up to Jobs at his request -- to stay close in touch with what customers are actually saying. That's a good thing: but snarky replies aren't. My contact's reply from Jobs was also snarky so the pattern fits. Jobs is know to be "blunt".

[FizzyWater]

I think the average student is still at that age where "the world revolves around me" - Steve Jobs owned this girl nothing.

Would it have been a nice gesture? Sure. A nice PR gesture? Probably not - who would know, really?

I could wish he were more polite, out of pure common courtesy. But in a way, she was as rude to demand a reply as his curt response was.

I think he made a comment either in this story or in another story linked to it on the first blog I read this story on...that he gets hundreds of these kinds of requests a month. He cannot answer them all. So how does he choose - probably safest to just deny all.

IMHO.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mrscoach

I think Harry's point was the response of not caring about someone's grades was because the original author was telling Jobs that she would get a bad grade if they didn't answer her questions. Jobs told her, basically, that her grades weren't any of his business.

Yes, that was indeed my meaning. The girl's grades are her concern, not Apple's.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Let's face it: A lot of products that students use are not originally intended for them, nor designed for them... most laptops, for example. If a product was not specifically designed for students, would you want the CEO to lie or make up some drivel about how it really is?

The comment may have been badly phrased, but it emphasizes that a device is a tool... what's really important (and out of the tool-maker's hands) is how the person uses it.