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Steve Jobs: Strong, Not So Silent Type

Steve Jobs: Strong, Not So Silent Type

Many have had the experience of staying up late after one too many cups of coffee, or perhaps an adult beverage or two, and sending out a rocket on e-mail that we may or may not come to regret.

Ryan Tate, a blogger at Valleywag, has served himself up a Stinger cocktail late Friday night and grew agitated as he watched a commercial about the new iPad. The emphasis on the word “revolution” stuck in his craw and he fired off an email to Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, saying “revolutions are about freedom.”

To his surprise and delight, Mr. Jobs responded and the two had a “frank and candid” discussion as they say, deep into the night. An excerpt from Mr. Jobs’ email, which Mr. Tate published:

“Yep, freedom from programs that steal your private data. Freedom from programs that trash your battery. Freedom from porn. Yep, freedom. The times they are a changin’ and some traditional PC folks feel their world is slipping away. It is.”

As wonks often do, the pair cranked on each other about the limits and virtues of a piece of software, in this case, Flash, which Apple has decided is a no-go for its tablet.

What is less remarkable than the throwdown over applications — terabytes of data are consumed every night on the Web debating same — than the fact that Mr. Tate, who works for a digital media company currently being criminally investigated for its purchase of a next-gen iPhone, was able to engage Mr. Jobs in a debate.

Although Apple is careful and strategic in its dealings with reporters, people who have written critically about Apple can tell you that Mr. Jobs is ferocious in defense of his company. But he also seems determined to avoid have Apple tagged as a large corporate monolith, in part by entering the conversation when he has time, interest and, in this case, an enthusiastic, if somewhat lubricated, adversary.

[Thanks: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com]

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