Hasta La Gadget!

Despite last week’s flurry of bad press surrounding the iPhone 4’s antenna, Steve Jobs is still in a chatty mood about his company’s newest handset. His latest personal e-mail to a customer relates to minerals used to create the iPhone 4 and other Apple products.

In an e-mail to Jobs on Sunday evening, Wired.com reader Derick Rhodes inquired about whether Apple was using “conflict-free” materials to create the iPhone 4. Jobs shot back a reply an hour later stating that Apple was doing what it could.

Hi Steve,

I’d planned to buy a new iPhone tomorrow – my first upgrade since buying the very first version on the first day of its release – but I’m hesitant without knowing Apple’s position on sourcing the minerals in its products.

Are you currently making any effort to source conflict-free minerals? In particular, I’m concerned that Apple is getting tantalum, tungsten, tin, and gold from Eastern Congo through its suppliers.

Looking forward to your response,
Derick

Jobs’ reply:

Yes. We require all of our suppliers to certify in writing that they use conflict few materials. But honestly there is no way for them to be sure. Until someone invents a way to chemically trace minerals from the source mine, it’s a very difficult problem.

Sent from my iPhone

Rhodes was inspired to write the e-mail after reading a recent New York Times piece detailing the horrific warfare in the Congo, which sells minerals to the suppliers who create components for cellphones, computers and gaming devices. Grass-roots campaigns have dubbed minerals from such origins as “conflict minerals.”

Jobs has been known to occasionally respond to customers’ e-mails, though in recent months the CEO has sent at least one e-mail each week. Many of these e-mails make their way to blogs. Some social media experts told Wired.com that they believe Jobs’ casual replies have evolved into a PR strategy as a means for the CEO to communicate with the world.

Jobs’ e-mail to Rhodes contains a typo — conflict “few” rather than conflict free — presumably because he typed it with his iPhone. Wired.com was able to verify the authenticity of the letter.

Rhodes said he felt grateful about receiving an e-mail from the famous CEO.

“I thought it was really cool,” he said. “His e-mails are really concise, so I really appreciate the thought he put into it.”

See Also:

• Roundup: Steve Jobs’ Terse Replies to Fan Mail
• Steve Jobs: Sorry, No OS 4 on Original iPhone

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

There’s been a lot of fuss over the yesterday’s release of iOS 4 for the devices that support it. Also about the fact that when a number of iPhone 3G owners upgraded to the new operating system, they found that–unlike iPhone 3GS owners (and iPhone 4 owners, when they get their devices tomorrow)–they were unable to set a custom background for their home screens.

Over at GIzmodo, one intrepid reader took the question of why backgrounds on the iPhone 3GS were supported but not the iPhone 3G all the way to the top: She e-mailed Steve Jobs directly and put the question to him. Steve e-mailed back in short order with a one-sentence response: “The icon animation with backgrounds didn’t perform well enough.”

Apparently the bottom line is that Apple didn’t think that the backgrounds on the iPhone 3G were up to par with the 3GS and the iPhone 4, so they decided to pull them entirely. Alternatively, it could just be one more reason for iPhone 3G owners to go ahead and upgrade to an iPhone 4. If you’re debating an upgrade, check out our benchmarks of iOS4 on the iPhone 3G and 3GS at PCMag.com.
 

Apple’s WWDC is technically a developer conference, but for the past few years it’s also been the coming-out party for each new iPhone generation. This year looks to be no exception, as the buzz around the fourth-generation iPhone (no, it probably won’t be the “iPhone 4G”) has been particularly intense.

Before Steve Jobs and Co. settle in for four days of highly technical developer discussions, they’ll let loose with around 2 hours of new product demos. Will we see that fourth-generation iPhone? A new Apple TV? A cloud-based music service? Nobody outside Apple really knows, except that whatever we see, it’ll be big.

PCMag’s mobile managing editor Sascha Segan and audio/video lead analyst Tim Gideon will be live-blogging the event and trying to get their hands on anything made publicly available there. We’ll have text and photos from an event that is unlikely to be streamed officially by Apple. Check back on Monday, June 7, starting at 9:30 AM Pacific (12:30 PM Eastern) to join in the fun.

In case you hadn’t heard, Steve Jobs got downright conversational last night at D8, riffing on questions from Walt, Kara, and the attending audience of elites. You can hit up the entire liveblog for a timestamped play by play, or browse through some of the highlights below.

• Steve Jobs live from D8
  
• Steve Jobs’ D8 interview: the video highlights
  

• On TV: ‘no one wants to buy a box’
• On Foxconn: ‘We’re all over this’
• On lost iPhone 4G prototype: it’s an ‘amazing’ story
• iPhone OS ‘started on a tablet’
• ‘There might be’ advantages to two iPhone carriers in US

We put some extra scintillating quotes after the break to shield the eyes of your children. Just a note, however: all of these are paraphrased quotes typed live as Steve was speaking, and not to be construed as the verbatim Word of Steve Jobs, though the gist is certainly there.

Continue reading Steve Jobs at D8: Foxconn, iPhone prototype, TVs, and more

Steve Jobs at D8: Foxconn, iPhone prototype, TVs, and more originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 11:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

The liveblog is happening now — hit read more and get into it!

Continue reading Steve Jobs live from D8

Steve Jobs live from D8 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments