Steve Jobs has created a firestorm of a controversy. Why? Because he has the audacity to fight back. Two recent Jobs related events has the intelligentsia worked up to a frenzy normally reserved for the French attacking George Bush. The first event was Apple suing a web site for publishing Apple trade secrets. Second event was Apple pulling Wiley books off of Apple’s bookshelves in retaliation for their publishing iCon – the Kitty Kellyesque hatchet job on Jobs.
See the intelligentsia really hates it when a target fights back. These folks are generally cowards which is why they seek careers in the media and academia (see photo below). They generally prefer their prey hog-tied and muzzled. And it really makes them nervous when somebody fights back. Until recently the intelligentsia had the playing field to themselves. Targets of their scorn where helpless to fight back because of flawed PR doctrine (which advocates taking the high road and not fighting back) and because they controlled the media outlets.
Things have changed due to many enterprises realizing they need to fight in order to survive, and because legitimate internet driven alternatives to the main stream media now allow a target to get the real story out. But I digress… back to the Apple story. Let me summarize the two events that have the intelligentsia inflamed:
1. Somebody at Apple leaks competitively sensitive trade secrets that are published on a web site. Apple sues to protect it’s proprietary rights.
2. Two authors with dubious motives publish an unauthorized bio full of accusations from anonymous sources accusing Job’s of being a con man. Apple politely bans the books of the publisher in response.
Please notice Apples measured response to the Jobs’ book. Apple did not attack the
authors. They did not attack Wiley the publisher. Apple simply made a statement by banning the books. I mean why would anyone continue to do business with somebody enabling this kind of personal attack?
By the hysterical ranting coming off of the blogosphere you would think that Apple and Steve Jobs 
had committed an actual war crime. Even the New York Times with a lull in their Iraq coverage have decided to apply their own convoluted logic to the Apple episode. The New York Times includes the photo at left which seems to depict one of the books authors cowering behind a post. Click here and you can see a Technorati watch list of developing stories about the book and Apples response. By rough estimates about 90% of the coverage I’ve seen is against Jobs. So what does this mean?
It means Apple will sell more iPods, G5’s, and Tiger OS’s. Apple was right to ban Wiley’s books. And to sue the web site. All the sound and fury generated by the intelligentsia will simply add more energy to Apple’s side of the competitive equation.
The Apple faithful who are bitching are simply kvetching bad PR doctrine. And you need to remember that a sizable portion of the Apple faithful are the creative lunatics who tend to favor the anarchist side of the continuum.
Those Apple faithful claiming they’ll buy the book in protest of Apple’s actions will demur when confronted with the choice to buy the book or the new Dave Mathews album off of iTunes. Do you really think any Apple customer will turn in their 15" PowerBook G4 for a Dell because Steve Jobs did what was right? Do you really think the graphic designer living life large in a loft South of Market will not buy the new G5 because Apple protected it’s trade secrets?
So what is Apple’s follow-up move? Nothing. Sit tight. Do not allow Wiley titles back on the shelf. See that’s the move that offers the most leverage. Will Wiley sell a few more copies of the Job’s book because of this. Sure. But the sales they’ll lose from not being able to sell the rest of their catalog will put a nice little dent in their corporate coffers. And more importantly give pause to the next publisher evaluating a hit piece proposal on Steve Jobs.
Subscribe ARMORY | Book MOBILIZATION | Engage CAMPAIGN