“As Errol Rose made preparations on Monday to bury his 15-year-old son, Christopher, who was killed last week in Brooklyn during a fight over an iPod, he received a telephone call from a stranger. The man spoke in tones that the grieving father said had momentarily quieted his anguish,” Kareem Fahim reports for The New York Times. “The stranger, Mr. Rose soon learned, was Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple Computer, the company that makes the iPod.”
“‘I didn’t know who he was,’ Mr. Rose said yesterday. ‘He called me on my cellphone, at 4 maybe. Or maybe it was 5.’ Mr. Rose said he had stopped noticing the passage of time since his son was killed,” Fahim reports. “The men spoke for a few minutes. Calling him by his first name, Mr. Jobs asked how Mr. Rose was doing, he said, and conveyed his sympathies. ‘He told me that he understood my pain,’ Mr. Rose said. ‘He told me if there is anything – anything – anything he could do, to not be afraid to call him. It really lightened me a bit.'”
Fahim reports, “One of Mr. Jobs’s assistants contacted a reporter for The New York Times on Monday and asked for Mr. Rose’s telephone number. ‘Some people talk to you like they’re something remote,’ Mr. Rose said. ‘He was so familiar. After every word, he paused, as if each word he said came from his heart. We live in a world which is changing rapidly. We have the technology that can give us the iPod and everything else, but it’s not all these things. We have to work on the minds and the hearts. We’re failing these kids. We’re not loving them like we’re supposed to.'”
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Teen killed for his iPod – July 05, 2005
Bill Gates company (like countless others) is playing a very large part in ensuring that Africa has the precise debts and therefore suffering that Live8 is supposed to be illuminating. Because they have a stranglehold they are particularly guilty as their business practices amply demonstrate. To say that computers are irrelavent to such suffering is just another indication of the patronising attitude we westerners have towards Africa and what we feel is right for them. India and China are becoming power houses precisely because of computers and computing technology.
Of course computers and computing is vital to the empowerment of Africans and Africa too IF we want them to develop out of a third world state.
To give back a fraction of the money that has been taken (some might say extorted) from people because of self serving use of the dominant position his company has constantly used to extract so much cash is the very least that Bill Gates can do. However that money will achieve very little untill companies like his are forced to practice ethical and fair behaviour as a rule rather than only when forced to do so. Of course that will never happen. When a mugger helps me up and offers half my money back I remain suspicious and Gates is the World’s biggest (at least commercial) mugger despite the ‘eco friendly’ wrapper.
I don’t get the hero worship…
sorry guys, I’m missing something here.
the only act more tacky is giving the family a new iPod.
Am I the only one who finds Jobs calling the family, strange?
I think it’s an amazingly self-important act.
The fact that we know about the phone call makes it look like damage control.
The people who did the crime could have done it for the victim’s sneakers, jewelry, cash, jackets, etc. Having been an iPod it is a sign of the times.
I hope competitors now think twice before claiming new iPod killers. The phrase changed meaning.
Rock On.
cb – you’re an idiot.
first, stop spreading your infected mindset. The iPod is an icon; no action from Apple regarding this incident would cause a painful gap to linger. Ask yourself, what if no-one from Apple called the family? How many (including possibly yourself) would be asking: Can you believe, nobody from Apple even called the family to express sympathy? Give yourself a pause. Then, when you get over that question, ask yourself: Who from Apple should call the family? PR? Surely then, people such as possibly yourself would come out and say: Jobs is so self-important; he wouldn’t even make the call himself.
re: MCCF
@ Madmacman and others…
I’m no fan of Gates the businessman, and I’m relatively ambivalent on Gates the philantrophist, and yes he is relatively wooden, and yes he was reading from notes…
But nevertheless, he is giving serious money to a serious issue, namely the preventable death of thousands who don’t give a damn whether his money is raised from some poorly-written computer code, simply because many of them will never use a computer in anger.
So give the guy a break: computing – for the most part – is not a matter of life and death, whereas malaria, HIV, and many of the other issues affecting Africa definitely are. Whether he gives through guilt, a desire for public recognition, or just a straightforward commitment is irrelevant – what he and his wife are doing will ultimately save lives, and that’s all that matters in the long run.
As for SPJ’s call to the bereaved father in this tragic story, it’s a different illustration of the fact that capitalism can have a human face, perhaps less far reaching than Gates’ multi-million dollar commitment, but probably no less heartfelt.
At the end of the day, both men did what they felt was right for a particular situation and we should acknowledge their actions without using it as an excuse to promote what is – all things considered – a fairly petty dispute about which company makes the better operating system.
I saw Bill Gates on Live 8 and I thought the guy was a total hypocrite.
Here is a man on stage who is the richest man in the world, who has a personal fortune bigger than Africa’s National Debt preaching to the world about a problem that he could quite easily make a major impact to help solve.
I was ashamed and humiliated to be a human being seeing him on that stage.
How can he do that – rub the noses of all the poor africans in shit.
He earn more money in an hour than what they earn in a month.
Despicable.
anti, you just don’t get it. I think Sol understands my mindset. I’m not a basher by any means. I see it as a knee jerk bit of grandstanding. I also think that if he didn’t call, it would be a non-issue. I’m not saying the guy is not totally sincere.
I read some of these responses and just sort of shake my head – sort of a mix of NASCAR meets Scientology. Get a grip.
Sorry my perspective is different.
Spyinthesky:
With the best will in world, if you think that the problems of Africa are predicated on the policies of a company that is only 30 years old, you’re about as deluded as the people who blame McDonalds or Burger King.
Africa’s problems start with European agricultural subsidies which then force the USA to follow suit: so, as taxpayers, we get hit by both the subsidy and the aid bill which is insanity. If Africa had another 5% of world trade, which pretty much means agriculture, we could eliminate much of the aid requirement.
We should also stop tying aid to trade: far too many aid donors force recipient nations to spend aid with the very same donor country, despite the fact that, very often, the same product/service/project could be completed at greatly reduced cost using the resources of the region, which would have the added benefit of increasing skills and confidence.
Europe pretty much economically raped Africa and Asia for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, and the USA and USSR effectively manipulated the region for political influence for the latter half of the 20th century. Between us, our governments are culpable accessories to a passive genocide that sees tens of thousands of people die from want every day: this isn’t the fault of a computer software manufacturer or the fault of a fast-food restaurant, this is the fault of not having clean running water or the ability to earn a living from what could be the world’s market garden if only we stopped distorting trade through subsidy.
I know Africa has more than its fair share of corrupt government: sadly, too many of these are based in oil-rich countries and we all know how good our governments are at behaving ethically where oil is concerned…
Umm… no.
People are robbed & killed every single day. Often their Apple products are stolen. Jobs doesn’t call all the others. Why? This one made big news and he wants the publicity. Disgusting.
And it’s bad for Apple – they’re practically acknowledging that their marketing strategy may bear some responsibility for this boy’s death. It doesn’t.
I’m with Wingsy. Lojack or serial checking or whatever — computer theft could be deterred simply, at less-than-huge expense to the manufacturers. Oh, but you guys will never go for it, ‘cuz it’s like “fingerprinting” and they’ll certainly use it to bust you for all your stolen music.
I’m having a grumpy morning, I’m afraid.
And I’m not sure how this turned into a forum on African debt, but I’m a firm believer that African nations are being screwed by their own governments. The peoples must rise up and cast out their oppressors. And the democratic nations of the world should help.
Bush is right on target with this one — debt relief to most of these countries amounts to debt relief for the bad bad men in charge. It gives them more power to abuse, and will NOT help the masses.
Hey Petey,
How many millions did you give away recently? None? Well, then Gates has done more than you. Money talks, everything else walks, remember?
It’s just too easy on your part to spit venom like that.
Just like spitting venom at Jobs over this. I for one think he did a very decent thing. In fact, he did the thing that should be done. If people are going to worship him over that, I think THAT is a tad exaggerated, too. Would you have done the same, being in his shoes? I like to think I would.
Schnake: “I like to think I would.”
Why? Is there something inherently decent about intruding on a stranger’s grief? Jobs and Apple Computers had absolutely nothing to do with this.
The Times gave out the number in exchange for an exclusive opportunity to sensationalize a family’s pain, and Jobs went through the Times for the press. I don’t think he made things (much) worse by calling, but unless there’s evidence that he calls every murder/robbery victim whose iPod or Mac is stolen, it’s pretty clear that this act was motivated by the publicity. Which is gross.
Apple behaves more and more like Microsoft every day.
Using this senseless tragedy as a forum to praise Gates for giving away a small percentage of his ill gotten gains is just ludicrous.
It’s like praising Blackbeard the Pirate for paying the woman he just raped.
You can’t buy your way into heaven Billy.
Wow! That was really cool Steve! You really helped that family with that phone call. I’m really, really impressed.
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Who’s going to kill over a Microsoft product? To get away from one, maybe, but to get one? Come on!
I diagree. This is the very first story of which I’ve heard or read about that someone, especially a child has been killed over an iPod.
I think his phone call was sincere and so does the family. I think the father would have felt differently if he thought Steve was playing this out like a commercial for Apple. The press gets into the act because Mr. Jobs is famous so naturally there going to write a story about it. I think Steve felt bad that one of his products was involved that caused some bad kid to kill another one over and thats all.
Way too much cynicism from CB and a couple of others–do any of you criticizing Jobs have any EVIDENCE to support your slimy assertions? Sure, both possibilities could be true (i.e., genuine condolence and PR stunt), but you’re CHOOSING to believe the worst. Too many people think it’s perfectly OK to ascribe bad motives to any powerful figure without any real evidence–whether it’s a corporate leader, government leader, etc.
In fact, it says a lot more about the one casting the stone…envy ain’t pretty.
“Using this senseless tragedy as a forum to praise Gates for giving away a small percentage of his ill gotten gains is just ludicrous.
It’s like praising Blackbeard the Pirate for paying the woman he just raped.
You can’t buy your way into heaven Billy”
Right friggin on! Do you think Bill would do as much if there was no tax break for him. The amount he gives is pennies compared to his fortune. How much money does one man need.
John –
If Jobs actually believes that his product, his company, or his actions were in any way responsible for this murder, and he doesn’t act immediately and decisively to stop the responsible entity, then he’s a VERY bad man.
Hmm.. no changes to the iPod product, campaign, or strategy coming? I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he’s not a horrible person, but rather just doesn’t actually feel any responsibility whatsoever. So why contact the press and make the call?
once again an MDN forum turned political. geez people take it somewhere else.
keyword=usually…..as in this usually happens on MDN!
Al:
Small percentage to you or to him, yes!
Huge amount of money where people earn $1/day.
Yes, it may well be a publicity stunt – but I don’t think a seven year-old who gets the chance to live a life free from malaria and who doesn’t know Bill or Melinda Gates from a bar of soap will give a crap, so go peddle you cynicism elsewhere…
PC Apologist:
[I]Bush is right on target with this one — debt relief to most of these countries amounts to debt relief for the bad bad men in charge. It gives them more power to abuse, and will NOT help the masses.[/I]
Well. thats a neat cop-out, but not all African governments are systemically corrupt, although corruption may exist at some levels of the civil service, just as it does in practically every country to one degree or another. Russia’s corrupt, yet we bend over backwards for it. As we do for oil-rich Nigeria. If you want to have a standard for corruption, make it a consistent one.
The developed world shouldn’t give Africa (or anywhere else) a leg-up in the form of aid, only to tie the donation to the condition that it be spent on goods/services from the donor country – it’s like giving someone a gift voucher and then demanding that they buy something for you with it.
If you don’t want to give aid (which is often given to NGOs and bypasses government) or debt relief, lobby your government to remove protectionist trade subsidies that deny African producers the chance to sell to a world market or, more absurdly, the chance to sell to their own market.
Mike:
You’re a schmuck…this isn’t a joke, someone died for a piece of consumer electronics that some hoodlum decided was fashionable. There’s a limit to black humour and you managed to step over it.
Maybe this particular instance simply struck a cord, and Steve Jobs simply picked up the phone and made the call. I admit that I don’t call every single person who has suffered a loss and needs a word of encouragement. I sort of wish that I did, and could do so, but the truth is we sometimes do the best we can in the circumstances we are in. It is plausible (just barely) that it could have been a publicity stunt, but we have not seen Steve use people’s grief as a PR stunt in the past, so I would deem it highly unlikely. I’ll give him that benefit of the doubt and take it at face value—heartfelt condolences. The fact that it was an iPod was not something Apple played up, it was the media that focused on what was stolen. Steve probably does feel pricked that a product of his company is being targeted by individuals with little moral fiber and cause owners of them to suffer, but, like instances of theft of Nike products or any other “fashionable” item, a corporation cannot be held liable, individually, for such actions. We all bear a responsiblity to help shape the world where we and those around us show a measure of respect and consideration for the well-being of all people. Steve Jobs may not call everyone, but clearly he does care, and that has to be a good thing.
Steve Jobs is an INCREDIBLE HUMAN BEING. Bill Gates should take a cue from Steve Jobs, and start calling people for all the pain & suffering he has caused them over the years with Windows!
Is Jobs a decent guy/a hero/deserving of hero worship? From what I have read and seen he has to be right up there. For example he undoubtedly must have had a big say in the films produced by Pixar… and what are they if not decent, uplifting stories that show the human (animal) spirit as something good?
Of course some people will say that on its own it’s an act of self-promotion. Looked at in the round its in character…
Sending money and goods to feed the poor and cure their illnesses will not solve their problems. 80 to 100% of the aid sent to third world countries is stolen. Money goes to Swiss bank accounts and goods go on the black market. Depose the dictators and seize their and their cronies bank accounts, free the people, teach them how to feed themselves, train and equip their doctors and for god’s sake teach them birth control.
We live in a very expensive environment. Most of us know enough not to have more kids than we can feed, cloth, shelter and educate. They can learn to do the same.