No More Mr. Nice Guy!

Posted by Colin Doyle, April 30, 2010

It's been a hard week to look like an asshole after the guys from Goldman testified on Tuesday, But Steve Jobs has managed just that. Two separate PR missteps have left the visionary CEO looking...well...human, and a not so friendly one at that. Begin with his war against the geek blog gizmodo, complete with search warrants and confiscated computers, and end with an angry tirade over the Flash video standard offered by adobe which iPhones do not support.

Here's Jobs' mistake. Apple has carefully weaved an image of itself as the anti-corporation. a statement brand. Despite a market cap of one quarter of a trillion dollars and at times ruthless desire to keep its products close ended, the company maintains a friendly image. From stores packed with a hip young staff. To iconic advertisement campaigns. All the way down to its friendly, bubbly Apple logo.

And the smiling wizard sits atop this company periodically announcing his next unthinkably visionary product. Casting a spell over the hearts and minds of his followers. Making the marriage of humankind and Computer technology a harmonious one.

By getting down and rolling around in the dirt, Jobs threatens this image. He cheapens himself and the indomitable aura of his company. He gets in between adobe, who many apple users also admire, and the techie blog community who both ogle and help create a great deal of buzz for Apple, and he does this in a hostile way. There is no way to win this battle without seeming ruthless, corporate, and power hungry.

Job's take on the flash standard looks frighteningly similar to MSFT CEO Steve Ballmer's famous (complain when you've been outdone strategy). While flash video does have it's short comings, it is the web standard, and the Ballmer strategy looks far too desperate for the grand wizard.

Not that they were unavoidable for the company but the events following the iPhone leek make job's look like a vindictive wizard. more of a dictator then a prophet.

Like it or not, image counts for just about everything. As apple surely knows, a happy wizard, is a happy company, is a happy customer. Jobs would be wise not to fall into these types of mojo traps in the future.

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