When Steve Jobs danced on stage
The year was 2010. Barack Obama was (and is) president. And a young Jesse Eisenberg taught us all how to love in The Social Network. Tech wise, 2010 was a rather important year for Apple as well. We were introduced to the iPhone 4 -- first by Gizmodo, and then by Steve Jobs -- and following that, we were treated to an overblown tech scandal dubbed antennagate.
Ah yes, antennagate; the hyped-up controversy that surrounded reception problems on the iPhone 4 when the device was held in a certain way. Now I say that the controversy was overblown because angry consumers were crying foul as if they had just been swindled out of their hard-earned money for a shoddy product. Never mind the fact that consumers who experienced reception problems could simply walk right into an Apple store and return their devices.
Nonetheless, with controversy a-brewin', Jobs was effectively boxed in and ultimately held a press conference where he announced that Apple, in an effort to appease the masses, would give out free bumpers to affected users. If you recall, Apple kicked off the press conference with an iPhone-themed song from Jonathan Mann (see video above), a talented internet celeb who has been writing and publishing a new song on YouTube everyday since 2009.
The theme of Mann's iPhone song was simple: If you don't like the iPhone, don't buy it. If you bought one and don't like it, take it back.
Now apparently when Jobs came out on stage, he was so into the song that he walked out dancing as the song was winding down. You can check out Jobs' moves in the video above if you fast-forward to 2:00 in the clip.
What's more, Mann, writing for Medium, writes that he subsequently heard from Apple PR reps that Jobs was dancing offstage while the full song played.
Upon taking the stage, Jobs referenced the video and said, "Thanks for coming. We found that on YouTube this morning and couldn't help but want to share it."
Mann also describes the process by which his song ended up being played during the press conference in the first place.
The anti-Apple hype was at a fever pitch, and I thought the whole non-story was ridiculous. I decided to write a song defending Apple.
...
The next morning I woke to a flurry of activity in my inbox, including an email that appeared to be from Apple. I read the email and decided it was fake - someone was trolling me. I was in the shower when my phone rang. It was Apple PR. For real. Could they use my video to open the press conference, they wondered? Um, yes. Sure, uh, how should I send it to you? Jesus Christ.
Now one point that was seemingly glossed over during Apple's press conference was that the return rate on the iPhone 4, at that point in time, was only 1.7 percent, markedly lower than the 6 percent return rate for the iPhone 3GS. The takeaway? Consumers, despite the tabloidy antennagate headlines, were rather satisfied with the iPhone 4.
Lastly, for those keeping score at home, Mann has been faithfully recording a song a day for years now. His current tally? Video #1,820.
[via MG Siegler, The Loop]
