Dear Steve Jobs
Me, I’d like to let you keep the $100 per iPhone you so generously are going to give me and other early adopters who bought the iPhone.
Here’s what I’d like for my $300.
I’d like an iPhone where software developers can go to town and play.
I’d like an SDK. A real one. One where we can build apps that talk to the accelerometer in the iPhone. One where we can install apps like the very cool Google Maps or Yahoo Finance apps that are on the iPhone’s home screen.
I’d like Flash. SVG. Java. So software developers can build apps like my very cool Kyte.tv mobile app that lets me answer chat from my Nokia phone, or upload video.
I’d like you to turn on the camera so that I can record some video.
I’d like to buy some video games. Like those over on Kongregate.
I think that’s all worth $100 per iPhone. I’d rather have all these things than have a gift certificate.
Thank you. But since I don’t have any of this stuff I’ll take the $100.
Powered By 
September 6th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
[...] véletlenül most egyetértek Scoble-lel: http://scobleizer.com/2007/09/06/dear-steve-jobs/ « előző | hirbehozo — 2007. 09. 06. [...]
September 6th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
[...] Scoble wants an SDK so developers can create cool iPhone apps. Of course I do too. But I doubt it’s going to [...]
September 6th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
You can can get 100 cool ringtones for it!
September 6th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
I love the internet…
For making conversations like this possible.
Steve Jobs writes an open letter to all iPhone owners today, offering them all $100 gift certificate in return for their loyal, early adoption.
Within hours, Robert Scoble has responded with his own open let…
September 6th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
I don’t know how I could agree more. Give me an SDK. More than anything, I want to be able to make VoIP calls and have true instant messaging.
September 6th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
Kyte.tv, video, and video games
Sounds like you need an N95 :-)
Sorry, couldn’t resist
September 6th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
It’s a $200 difference for the 8GB iPhone most of us bought, and even thought getting $100 is better than nothing, it’s not cash but store credit. Time to spend more… :(
September 6th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Karl: I still have an N95.
If I were writing a letter to Nokia it’d say “make your the experience of using your device as thrilling as it is to use the iPhone.”
September 6th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Considering that Robert Scoble makes a lot more money than a 15 year old kid who spent all the money he had in his savings account to get the iPhone on June 29th.
Yes, Apple can keep Scoble’s $300. As a matter of fact Apple can take as much as money Scoble has. :-p
September 6th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
[...] gestreamt hatte, reagieren leicht säuerlich. Scoble antwortet Jobs, er solle das iPhone lieber sofort für Programmierer öffnen, die leidige Flash-Sperre entfernen, die Kamera für Video nutzbar machen (und er vergisst [...]
September 6th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Out of curiosity, what is the % of posts on this site that don’t mention Kyte.tv at least once in the past 14 days?
September 6th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Cool 8-)
The one and only answer to Apples pricing policy.
Thumbs up!
September 6th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
I’ll take your gift certificate… and anyone else who want to give up $100 in Apple credit for a lousy SDK (that we’ll prolly have in 18 months)
September 6th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
[...] I’m with Scoble: Take my $1400 credit back, Apple, and instead release an SDK. SmugMug’s iPhone interface is [...]
September 6th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
andrew: my son will probably say the same thing when he gets off school today and sees this post. Anyway, one of the $100 certificates belongs to him. He’s 13 and saved up his own money to buy his iPhone.
September 6th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Apple reembolsará 100 dólares a dueños del iPhone
La noticia principal del día de ayer en el mundo de la tecnología fue por parte de Apple, con la presentación de los nuevos modelos de su línea de toca-eme-pe-tres iPod, incluyendo el tan esperado iPod touch, el cual cuenta …
September 6th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
And I think that would be an excellent thing to say :-) Beyond the touch screen innovations in the iPhone I think the responsiveness of the ui is thrilling. iPhone has set a very high bar.
September 6th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
allen stern: Kyte.tv is the only reason I haven’t gotten rid of my Nokia N95. So that’s worth mentioning. A lot.
September 6th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
[...] Robert Scoble ha risposto pubblicamente alla lettera di Jobs attraverso il suo blog. [...]
September 6th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
[...] I guess Scoble agrees with me, Check out his Open Letter to Steve Jobs. Angry Ramblings, Gadgets, Mapping, Music, Software [...]
September 6th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Cheers Robert - couldn’t agree more.
September 6th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
Dear America,
I wish you would all quit whining about the (price / price drop / lack of SDK / etc) on the iPhone. At least you CAN buy one if you want to. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re still waiting for it to land here in Europe and there’s still no confirmed sign that it’s coming any time soon. I’m sure there are people here who would be glad to pay $600 for the iPhone, if they knew it would work over here.
Sad thing is that although you guys all whined and got your price drop AND your vouchers (and you’re still not happy), we’ll probably still have to pay the equivalent of $600 (or more) when we finally get it over here anyway. I love apple (I even bought stock), but I hate how in Europe / the UK we get shafted on the prices of these things. A ‘tax’ for us inferior beings who aren’t ‘lucky enough’ to live in the USA methinks.
Count yourselves lucky and stop the whining!!
September 6th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
[...] und eben Akkulaufzeit zu tun hat, dürfte das Featurewunder N95 das HighTech-S10 aka iPhone locker abhängen.Immerhin, die abgezockten Early-Adopters und Shop-Becamper bekommen nun einen Rabatt von 100 USD [...]
September 6th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
If you purchased an iPhone with a credit card that has price protection you can get the entire $200 back …. unless you purchased it on the first day it was available, because the price drop came one day after the 60 day price protection window that credit cards offer.
September 6th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Is it iTunes credit?
September 6th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
[...] missing logo in the upper left corner. The current iPhone keyboard hurts the Apple brand more than the iPhone price cut or the environmental discussion about Apple products. For those not familiar with the current input [...]
September 6th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
You don’t want flash. Flash will kill the battery life, and yes it will be used in ads, so fat chance on just avoiding them if you care about battery life.
Apple pushes h.264/AAC encoding for a reason: hardware encoding is very efficient. They want to ensure you can get as much battery life as possible or they will be criticized for the poor battery life.
Flash sucks when you care about laptop battery life. Will hurt even more on your phone.
September 6th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Yes, since Apple is so well known for its open platforms, right?
:rolls eyes:
Not gonna happen.
Apples success in this makes it *less* likely that they’ll open stuff, not more.
September 6th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Flash and Java are bugs, not features.
September 6th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Wow… here’s something I never thought I’d say:
I agree with you 100%, Robert….
September 6th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
[...] with their customers. There have been many great posts out there on it. For example, Scoble and a lot of others want an SDK (I’m conflicted on that, but hold the thought). There is [...]
September 6th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
[...] Scoble says he’d pass on his family’s $300 worth of credit if only Apple would release a… so people could write applications (more easily). Noble, but not going to happen for a long time, IMO. [...]
September 6th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Lol! SDK ain’t gonna happen anytime soon. But good try! :-)
September 6th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Yawn.
Maybe what you should be watching for food on a stick.
http://digg.com/videos/people/Amazing_59_different_kinds_of_food_on_a_stick
September 6th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
APPLE is NUTZO
September 6th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
[...] people, such as Robert Scoble, don’t really mind that they paid a $200 premium for the geekish privilege of having such a Sacred Object. Which is fine. I think companies like Apple need *more* fans like [...]
September 6th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
I wouldn’t be surprised to see an SDK from Apple in 2008. However, they’re going to release it when it’s ready and is supportable and not until, which I’m
It makes no sense to want Apple to implement Java on the iPhone–that’s just nuts. The frameworks on the iPhone already do everything that Java would have done if it were implemented and probably lots more.
No need for Flash when you have H.264 for video (and hardware decoding built-in) and web 2.0 goodness via Safari.
September 7th, 2007 at 12:28 am
“I’d like an iPhone where software developers can go to town and play.”
Please stop whining. An open development platform to “go to town and play” doesn’t mean gcc and a C IDE or a Cocoa toolbox. Do you even know how to use any of these?
I didn’t think so.
Apple gives developers a full-featured, AJAX and WYSIWYG-enabled web browser. NO OTHER PHONE VENDOR OFFERS THAT - and this is a young developer platfrom that is, as yet, accessible to fairly young/beginning programmers for building apps - you could do it. Web apps today are like the golden age of computing (before satansoft) in the early 80s.
The only thing the iphone is missing is flash… but that’s Macromedia/Adobe’s draconian licensing scheme, not Apple’s. It’s the same problem Sony has with flash on the PSP and Nintendo has on the Wii.
September 7th, 2007 at 1:01 am
“One where we can build apps that talk to the accelerometer in the iPhone.”
Funny you should mention that… I just posted this little demo video I made of an app that sends the accelerometer data from the iPhone to a computer for display and other fun stuff:
http://tlrobinson.net/blog/?p=25
September 7th, 2007 at 1:21 am
This iphone bashing hype is really starting to get annoying. It’s just too obvious now that you are only criticizing Apple to get a piece of the internet action surrounding the iPhone.
Anyways, you are just going to have to accept that not everyone’s interested in SDK’s or Java (who wants that crap on his phone anyway). So the lack of these technologies does NOT make it a bad product.
Besides, why judge a products by its weakest points? That would be liking hating you because of the sweater you’re wearing on the picture above.
September 7th, 2007 at 1:38 am
Yup, openness adds value — in this case, $100 worth of value.
September 7th, 2007 at 3:58 am
I am sorry I took your money…did I take your money? or actually you gave to me volumteerily? actually you were very feeling *extremely* happy after giving me your money.
Why should I apologize anyway? I didn’t apologize two month ago when I pocketed the money-by the way why didn’t you submit a complaint 2 month ago?….DOH!
Steve J. simpson
From Springfield
September 7th, 2007 at 5:12 am
I think it’s hilarious that these people will go and spend their $100 for products that will themselves soon cost less!
ha! :)
September 7th, 2007 at 7:13 am
You should have added ebooks to that list.
http://mikecane.wordpress.com/2007/09/07/sos-steve-jobs-ebooks-will-save-you/
September 7th, 2007 at 8:05 am
[...] Dear Steve Jobs [Scobleizer] tr { border: 0px } td { cellborder: 10px} table { border: 1px solid black } [...]
September 7th, 2007 at 10:34 am
I’d like an iPhone where software developers can go to town and play.
Great thought.
September 7th, 2007 at 11:21 am
[...] Scoble wants an SDK so developers can create cool iPhone apps. Of course I do too. But I doubt it’s going to [...]
September 7th, 2007 at 11:38 am
It’s a phone. All I want to be able to do is make calls. I don’t need the rest of it.
And for anyone who’s sore at losing $200, you should have waited. You never get the best deal on launch day!
September 7th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
[...] I think the iPhone’s a scam, but none the less Scoble’s right. We need an SDK. If there were an SDK I would buy an iPod Touch in addition to my Classic (but I [...]
September 7th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Of course when the 3g comes out that’ll all change. I’d take the money personally, and let the hackers find a way to get those features working.
September 7th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Great post, Scoble - I really liked it. In fact, I liked it so much, I turned it into a song - see http://blog2song.blogspot.com/2007/09/dear-steve-jobs.html
Dror.
September 8th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
Give me some comments about the crappy Zune.
September 11th, 2007 at 2:11 am
[...] new ipod style, the new ipod touch (like iPhone, without phone), steve job’s open letter (money back for early adopters) and so [...]
September 11th, 2007 at 7:07 am
To Whom It May Concern
I have a warranty complaint with an Apple Ipod Video, that I purchased for my kids. I haven’t had any luck with local store managers or the one Customer Service Representative I was able to reach.
There seems to be a customer disconnect with little common sense driving warranty decisions.
I am attempting to find an avenue, to get my complaint in front of the nose (so to speak) of Steve Jobs.
Do you have any suggestions on how I can get Mr Jobs attention?
*_I have several lengthy emails and letters but, In a nut shell::_*
The Crux of my complaint is that I have an 8 month old video ipod that will no longer sync with the computer. I have a total of 4 ipods (purchased over the last two years) at present. Two minis with dead batteries after 2 years, and a recent nano. When we brought the video ipod in, for replacement or repair under warranty, the store manager said the ipod had been abused. The ipod had a small dent in the top corner and a mark in the white plastic. They were indications that the ipod had been dropped, but not abused. After all, 90 % of the owners of ipods are kids. I had a new video ipod that I had bought 5 minutes earlier, while my son was having the non responsive video looked at by the Genius. Apple has been so focused on the “damage aspects” of the video ipod that they are unwilling to consider the possibility, that the ipod Logic board is defective. They are trying to get out of a warranty replacement rather then trying to keep a customer satisfied. That is, a customer that has purchased 4 ipods with a future potential of many more Apple products. I returned the new video ipod, after the store manager would not replace the non functioning ipod. Where is the business sense logic? I had a new ipod on the counter and the store manager took it back, losing a new sale, but was not going to replace the non functioning unit, come hell or high water. Where’s the sales training and more so, customer service common sense?
Thanks
Guy Stanzione
September 11th, 2007 at 9:13 am
[...] their brand. Even when there’s a hiccup. Apple’s mastered the product launch, and gets everyone talking about them [...]
September 13th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Personally I couldn’t be happier with my iPhone (purchased on day 1). The one thing that kind of surprised me is that I thought Apple would’ve done more software updating by now.
September 18th, 2007 at 2:40 am
[...] ist ein SDK, mit dem man richtige Applikationen entwickeln kann. Dies wollen auch andere, so z.B. Robert Scoble. Aber wie Dave Winder darlegt, will Apple all das Business für sich und da macht es keinen Sinn, [...]
October 1st, 2007 at 3:09 am
[...] Dear Steve Jobs « Scobleizer [...]
October 15th, 2007 at 6:03 am
[...] Dear Steve Jobs ScobleizerAs a matter of fact Apple can take as much as money Scoble has. :-p. Comment by 37prime Dear Steve Jobs [Scobleizer] tr { border: 0px } td { cellborder: 10px} table { border: 1px [...]
October 18th, 2007 at 12:52 am
[...] Foto mit einem von Stickern verzierten Laptop durchs Bild liefen. Die Evangelisten wurden sauer. Robert Scoble beispielsweise antwortete auf den offenen Brief von Steve Jobs, in dem er das Cash-Back für die [...]
October 19th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
[...] I have been thinking about this for a few weeks prior to the SDK announcement from apple. Scoble excoriated apple, as did many others. These folks are generally pretty freakish proponents of web applications, and [...]
April 14th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
I think apple listened to you ;) :P