Look, MobileMe is having a few teeny tiny problems. Is that any reason to jump all over Apple about this? Or to put up Web sites like this spoof of MobileMe called “FailMe”? I think not. Worse yet, now Fortune is wondering who’s to blame for MobileMe and suggesting that the fault may lie with Dear Leader himself. Canyoufrigginbelieveit? The poor guy can’t catch a break. FWIW, I just got a call from Phil Schiller, who said, “This is Phil Schiller. You think I’m a hype-prone marketing executive who made big claims about ‘push’ services which we later had to retract, and I think you’re a drug-addled pinhead and if I saw you on fire I wouldn’t cross the street to pee on you and put you out. Got a minute?” Phil said he wanted to explain a few things about MobileMe, and he wanted me to tell his side of the story, but he would only do it if we were entirely off the record. I said, Sure, why not? Then as Phil started talking I heard someone else cough and I said, Is someone else on the line? Phil said, Um, no, why do you say that? I said I heard someone cough. Phil said, Oh, that...
Learn MoreRecently I wrote about how the scoop about Steve’s surgery had leaked out in the Times under the byline of John Markoff (my original post is here) and I suggested that Apple PR had arranged for the info to leak to Markoff because he’s one of the few journos they consider friendly to Apple. I also wrote that “there’s a reason this story leaked out in the Times and under Markoff’s byline, and it isn’t because he’s such a dogged, hard-nosed investigative reporter who’s breaking down doors to get at the truth. Ahem.” Turns out, in fact, that Markoff worked his ass off to get that scoop. The guy has been covering the Valley longer than almost anyone else in the business, and he’s deeply sourced and highly trusted, having earned a reputation for being a straight-shooter with extremely high standards of integrity and honesty. A source close to Markoff with intimate knowledge of the situation (no, not Markoff himself) called me yesterday to non-comment on the matter and to express personal outrage at what Times reporters perceived as an insult. My anonymous source insists that Apple did not just hand that scoop to the Times on a platter, and that Markoff was working his sources like mad trying to find out what...
Learn MoreHere is Apple’s stock chart since May. In that time period Apple has reported strong earnings and released a smash hit product, the 3G iPhone. It’s had lines out the doors of its retail stores, and has had to start opening earlier in the day to accommodate demand. To be sure, Apple also has warned about product transitions and soft consumer demand. And MobileMe has had some issues. But the real reason for the decline is the way Apple has totally mishandled questions about Dear Leader’s health. Investors are punishing Apple for it, using the only weapon they have. The stock has gone from $190 in early June to $155 today. That’s what? Close to $40 billion that’s gone up in...
Learn MoreSee here. Funny stuff.
Learn MoreMore amazing scoops at the RDL blog today. My Skype just buzzed, with a call from a name I didn’t recognize, and I picked up and it was Kevin Rose of Digg. He goes, “This is Kevin Rose. You think I’m a self-absorbed lothario who is secretly only seventeen years old and who once bragged to BusinessWeek about being worth $60 million even though I didn’t have a dime, and I think you’re a parasitic low-life who should be mopping booth floors with your tongue at the Lusty Lady in North Beach. Could I bend your ear for a moment?” Rose went on to say that he was very upset about some of the recent coverage of Digg’s attempts to sell itself to Google for a rumored $200 million. He specifically mentioned this story from TechCrunch in which anonymous sources said Google walked away from the deal because of (a) technical issues; and/or (b) personality issues. Rose said he wanted to talk about this and he wanted me to write about it and act as his proxy, telling the world his side of the story, but he would only do it if we spoke off the record and I didn’t attribute anything to him so that if anything turned out to...
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