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Steve Jobs Offers Support to Apple Employees Affected by Earthquake

Azathoth said:
Don't worry, any such 'press release' will no doubt be 'reported' via John Gruber or Walt Mossberg...

It was a good gesture - but if SJ had written it, wouldn't it just have been:

"Our sincere sympathies. Contact HR for supplies.

Steve
Sent from my iPad 2"
Click to expand...

Maybe you never work in a large company, but there is a difference between an email from one person to another, and a corporate-wide announcement from the executive team, on a serious and grave topic. in fact, Steve already wrote it in his usual no-nonsense manner. Most other CEOs will append:

Joe Boss
CEO of Big Company
Important disclaimer....
 
I'd like to think that if my world had become decimated in mere seconds, the company I worked for would say "tell us what you need and we'll get it."

There's comfort in seeing the surgical precision of something delivered right to your doorstep when the rest of the world is throwing pitches and hoping they hit home. Adds a personal touch from the company you were probably complaining about the day before for being so impersonal.
 
This is good for their employees and even better for publicity. However, unlike Microsoft, Apple didn't make the list of the most ethical companies. I can already see the fanboys claiming I'm some Microsoft shill but nothing could be farther from the truth.
 
Apple doesn't even tell anyone (including their own staff) what product they've got coming out the very next day. They're probably one of the most secretive large consumer companies out there, so what makes you think they're going to put out press releases whenever they donate money?

Especially as whenever some charitable effort by them is publicised the response it seems to draw is either 'they could have given more than that' or 'they only did it for the PR'. Plus, Apple is a listed company owned by shareholders; it can't just decide to give away millions of dollars without agreement of those shareholders, and when you consider a lot of those shareholders aren't going to be caring individuals, but corporate entities such as banks and investment/pension funds, that's really not going to happen. Can you imagine "Happy retirement! Sorry you won't have as much to live on for the rest of your life as you thought you were going to, but we decided to give some of it away to charity"
 
coolfactor said:
Probably not worth a reply, but I'd like to know what. Yes, Bill and his wife have their foundation, which is excellent and deserves applause. But you mentioned Apple here, so I assume you also mean Microsoft. What good has Microsoft done that Apple hasn't topped?
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I'm not aware of good deeds by Microsoft - my post probably wasn't carefully exact worded, my fault - the sentence wasn't meant that way that it contains two comparisons simultaneously ("Bill Gates-Steve Jobs and Microsoft-Apple"), just a comparison between Steve Jobs/Apple as a whole "unit" (which probably has to be seen that way in many cases, also this story here) against "Billie" ...
 
Azathoth said:
Don't worry, any such 'press release' will no doubt be 'reported' via John Gruber or Walt Mossberg...

It was a good gesture - but if SJ had written it, wouldn't it just have been:

"Our sincere sympathies. Contact HR for supplies.

Steve
Sent from my iPad 2"
Click to expand...

:D So true! I guess the PR department had a little work this time!

It's nice to read these stories about Apple. Nice to know they are being considerate and treating their employees well.

I also very much enjoyed reading the emails on Kevin Rose's blog about the Japanese Apple Store employee.

Way to go Apple!
 
Some of these arguements are ridiculous.

People standing up for corporations in defense of others calling them out.

YEAH, take that! Apple rulesz! Steve Jobs for President of the world!
 
The two are completely unrelated and such an announcement would in no way hamper their profits or help competition. In fact, it would probably increase good will and mindshare. Even if someone may want Apple to give more to a certain cause, they would still appreciate the gesture.

Of course, Apple isn't expected to give enormous amounts and the scenario where Apple would give so much of their profits as to have negative effects to their stock is insane and just a slippery slope fallacy. Moreover, I'm not sure you understand how retirement works.

In any case, making that list of most ethical companies wasn't just about donations to groups that help humanity. It's what they offer their employees too.

NightFox said:
Apple doesn't even tell anyone (including their own staff) what product they've got coming out the very next day. They're probably one of the most secretive large consumer companies out there, so what makes you think they're going to put out press releases whenever they donate money?

Especially as whenever some charitable effort by them is publicised the response it seems to draw is either 'they could have given more than that' or 'they only did it for the PR'. Plus, Apple is a listed company owned by shareholders; it can't just decide to give away millions of dollars without agreement of those shareholders, and when you consider a lot of those shareholders aren't going to be caring individuals, but corporate entities such as banks and investment/pension funds, that's really not going to happen. Can you imagine "Happy retirement! Sorry you won't have as much to live on for the rest of your life as you thought you were going to, but we decided to give some of it away to charity"
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
To all those saying apple/jobs/MS have not donated and should: I am sure they all did a fair share of donations - and I congratulate them for not making a press release/advertisement out of it. Funny, how people assume they did not donate since they don't brag about it. On the other hand, if they would brag about it, people would call it cheap advertisement campaign and that they should do more (independent from the amount the already donated). This one came only out because it was send to employees (which leaked it) to reassure them that apple understands that family/recovery is right now more important than anything else.
 
"if you've donated money, and somebody knows about it, you've likely donated for the wrong reason".
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148a)

jobs has impressed me greatly over the past few weeks. for him to present at the iPad 2 launch while staring imminent and certain death (most likely within 12 months) in the face shows real courage.
 
Moyank24 said:
Yes. There are a ton of people on here who wouldn't believe it unless it was written on a press release.

And after they read said press release, they would undoubtedly criticize the amount. Whatever it was.
Click to expand...

Why should anyone announce that they have donated?
 
lars666 said:
"Billie" already has done much more for mankind than Apple and Steve Jobs will do in 10.000 lives ...
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+ 1...love my apple products but Bill and Melinda have done so much for the world's poor that they could sit back and do nothing else for the rest of their lives, and they would have done more than enough!

Kudos to Apple for helping its employees..truly a nice gesture.
 
NightFox said:
Apple doesn't even tell anyone (including their own staff) what product they've got coming out the very next day. They're probably one of the most secretive large consumer companies out there, so what makes you think they're going to put out press releases whenever they donate money?
Click to expand...

Because its good marketing and pr. You honestly don't think there isn't a strong marketing and pr aspect in the corporate donations. Personal donations on the other hand are often undisclosed.
 
People!! Stop moaning about wether it's a genuine gesture or not. It's such a pathetic and futile thing to do. The only thing that matters right now is that money is being donated and that it gets to where it's needed. To help the victims of this ongoing tragedy.
 
lone deranger said:
people!! Stop moaning about wether it's a genuine gesture or not. It's such a pathetic and futile thing to do. The only thing that matters right now is that money is being donated and that it gets to where it's needed. To help the victims of this ongoing tragedy.
Click to expand...

+ 1,000,000
 
nishioka said:
Sure is easy to make decisions when it's not your money, isn't it? :)
Click to expand...

The thing is... it's not Steve's either. It belongs to the company and the shareholders. Steve can't just give out money without approval from the board.

Nice to see Apple making efforts to help their employees that need it.
 
Nuvi said:
Its the least what they should do. In all honesty I would like to see Apple do more like making some sort of direct donation, matching customer donations or similar. Its not like Apple couldn't afford to do it. The number of people they are helping with this effort is low. However, its better then nothing.
Click to expand...

Who says that Apple aren't helping in other ways. Not every-one does charity work just for the publicity and many donate anomalously - there is no need for everyone to know.

Apple employees are clearly very proud of how their company has handled the situation and want to share that with everybody.
 
Basically $teve is telling his workers in Japan, the same corporate spin I've heard at any large company I've worked at. "Sorry for your loss, contact HR if you need anything.. and don't forget to fill out your timesheet with the correct amount of leave you intend to take during this period, minus the required short term you're alotted for things like this.". $teve Job$ is such a classy guy.

Awesome, they set up a Red Cross donation page. Any monkey can set that up through the Red Cross. How much is APPLE or $TEVE JOB$ donating? How much is APPLE/$TEVE JOB$ helping to find their workers a temporary place to stay/food.. maybe even another temporary job while things get sorted out? BLAH BLAH BLAH.. shareholders.. BLAH BLAH BLAH. $teve could crap on their plate and tell them to eat it and they would. Anything that he says, goes, plain and simple. If he said "hey.. let's REALLY do something about this", the shareholders would be more than willing. UNLESS of course, you're insinuating the shareholders are just as greedy as Steve is? There's a thought.

As for the statement that Apple many not announce that they are helping... bs. Everything Apple does is media-centric. They want the media to know all of the good they do. All the units they've pushed. All of the battles against Google and Adobe they're trying to wage. Are you kidding me? Apple thrives on media attention. The world's stage is focused on Japan. Where is apple? Karma is a b*tch Steve.. but I guess you already know that.


Classy guy.. classy company.

magical - > :apple: < - magical
 
camelsnot said:
Basically $teve is telling his workers in Japan, the same corporate spin I've heard at any large company I've worked at. "Sorry for your loss, contact HR if you need anything.. and don't forget to fill out your timesheet with the correct amount of leave you intend to take during this period, minus the required short term you're alotted for things like this.". $teve Job$ is such a classy guy.

Awesome, they set up a Red Cross donation page. Any monkey can set that up through the Red Cross. How much is APPLE or $TEVE JOB$ donating? How much is APPLE/$TEVE JOB$ helping to find their workers a temporary place to stay/food.. maybe even another temporary job while things get sorted out? BLAH BLAH BLAH.. shareholders.. BLAH BLAH BLAH. $teve could crap on their plate and tell them to eat it and they would. Anything that he says, goes, plain and simple. If he said "hey.. let's REALLY do something about this", the shareholders would be more than willing. UNLESS of course, you're insinuating the shareholders are just as greedy as Steve is? There's a thought.

As for the statement that Apple many not announce that they are helping... bs. Everything Apple does is media-centric. They want the media to know all of the good they do. All the units they've pushed. All of the battles against Google and Adobe they're trying to wage. Are you kidding me? Apple thrives on media attention. The world's stage is focused on Japan. Where is apple? Karma is a b*tch Steve.. but I guess you already know that.


Classy guy.. classy company.

magical - > :apple: < - magical
Click to expand...


...............and your point is?
 
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