When reports of connectivity issues started cropping up on the Interwebs last week, there was a report that Steve Jobs had replied to an email from a customer who was concerned about the problems affecting his iPhone 3G. The email read,

"We are working on some bugs which affect around 2% of the iPhones shipped, and hope to have a software update soon."

 Steve

There have been reports in the past of Steve issuing terse replies to customer emails in the past here , here and here .These were all in reply to emails sent to steve.jobs@apple.com.

Call me skeptical, but I find it hard to believe that Steve himself is sending out personal emails to customers. First off, can you imagine how many emails are received in that particular inbox? Jobs probably does authorize the email, but this is more of a public relations play. Rather than Apple issuing an official statement, the company is able to get the message out in a not-so-traditional format. How is it that only one email from SJ is received? Surely, there must have been a few more emails regarding this complaint sent to Steve, but there is only one source when these stories hit? I do think it's a smart play by a company such as Apple. Perhaps an official statement of admission regarding the issue subject the company to possible lawsuits. The silence certainly hasn't prevented this from happening, but public perception (at least in our forums) is mixed on this topic.  One poster put the issue in good context stating, "the iPhone 3G is 6 weeks old...just over a month and yes, it needs the same repair, but they havent tried to repair it yet. Let them try and repair it and then if the problem persists, then maybe you have grounds." The product is just 6 weeks old and already we've seen two software updates, so clearly the company is working to resolve issues that exist with the iPhone 3G.

I do not question Steve's commitment to his customers. Believe me, I don't think there is a CEO who cares more about his products and how they are performing in the marketplace. You can bet that Jobs is pushing all the right buttons to get this problem resolved post haste, but that button isn't the "send" button.

via Valleywag