Steve Jobs Is Houdini: How Apple’s CEO got himself out of a trap and emerged stronger than ever

“On Friday, July 16, Apple’s chief executive, Steve Jobs, found himself in a kind of situation many public figures have faced before him. A crisis had built and wouldn’t go away,” Richard S. Levick writes for Forbes. “As the world waited in hyped expectancy, the spotlight fell on the central player to step onto the dais and deal with it. In this case, Jobs’ handling of the iPhone 4 situation generated an unusually wide variety of immediate reactions, from lavish praise to widespread criticism.”

“It’s fair to say that any lasting impact of the July 16 press conference involves longer-term consumer perception. In that context, Apple certainly waited too long to bring out Jobs as spokesman, nearly three weeks after the media, the Internet and the consumer marketplace began to buzz about the antenna problem that appeared to be threatening the iPhone 4’s launch,” Levick writes. “Who more than Jobs should know that in the digital age you must control the narrative from the very start?”

Levick writes, “When he finally did seize the moment, he did so with a strategic mixture of conciliatory giveaway and spirited defense… Assuming the iPhone 4 case giveaway works and customers are kept satisfied, Apple will reinforce its brand more emphatically than if the crisis had never happened. Apple will have delighted the crowd, all the more so because the crowd held its breath to see if Houdini would escape the trap. If the fix works, Jobs’ demeanor at the press conference only reinforces the zeal of his loyalists, and it likely wins new adherents to the cult, too.”

Read more in the full article here.