Jobs and the MobileMe eMail

Posted by: Heather Green on August 05

What’s interesting to me about the email (obtained by Ars Technica) that Jobs sent to employees admitting that MobileMe was a disappointment is that it’s a private statement. But it seems to me, based on how well Jobs uses the media, he had to know it would go public.

The reason he knows MobileMe is a disappointment is customer reaction. So why doesn’t he just admit it directly to folks, rather than through the intermediary of an internal email? I think it’s again a very smart handling of the message. He shows he’s on the case and outlines how Apple is going to handle the situation.

But by doing this through an internal email he also gets to control the perception of how Apple is dealing with the issue, rather than opening himself up to any pesky followup up comments or reporters’ questions if he did this on a blog or through a news interview.

And here’s the paradox to me, for all the talk about openness online, there’s still plenty of ways to manipulate that openness.

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