Jomolungma

As seems to be the case in this country for the last several years, I think people here are confusing politics with the actual job of lawmaking, which is what a senator does. Letters like this are written all the time, and are often necessary because too many large companies would otherwise simply ignore or walk all over the "little people." I'm sure the Senator from New York, and countless other elected officials, have received quite a few letters and phone calls concerning the iPhone 4 situation. As I would expect my elected representatives to do, he's using his position in the bully pulpit to pass on the concerns of his constituents.

Of course, he probably didn't write it. They don't really write much of their own stuff these days. But he was probably briefed (briefly) on it, he certainly signed it, and that's his job. I don't think it took too much of his time away from more critical issues. After all, the Senate just passed financial reform legislation this afternoon. I think he can multitask.

@MrDiSante Well, it's too late now. Now that there's a law suit, any destruction of documents would probably lead to some pretty heavy sanctions by the court. Even if they destroyed them before the case was filed, I'm sure the plaintiffs can find someone who can testify to that destruction at trial, which wouldn't help Apple either.

Lesson being, don't write stuff down :-)

@coolkams03 Well, considering his position as one of their lead engineers, with several patents under his belt, if he is fired he won't have too much trouble finding a job.

As for the implications of this? Here's one: if that engineer documented his concerns, and the current class action proceeds to discovery, that document will have to be disclosed. That will make it tough for Apple to avoid summary judgment, making a trial a possibility. This Apple will never let happen. So, basically, if there is a document that expresses these concerns, Apple on Friday will be announcing something - free bumpers, recall, etc. - that will basically wipe out that class action suit and make this issue go away. Otherwise, they'll be spending A LOT of money on legal bills.

Did they just admit to never testing this? I mean, they were "shocked" to discover this issue? Um, it took about 10 minutes for someone on the outside to figure this out. Doesn't give me high hopes for their QA program.

@zelannii I know everyone can, but do they? I mean, if you get this stuff already for free, why would you pay a dime for it, except to get it on your mobile device. But man, if you're complaining about paying for something that allows you to watch new and old tv on your iPhone or iPad, you've got issues.

I'm sure just about everyone screaming "FREE!" is a hypocrite. How do you watch these shows now? Do you pay a cable provider? Do you pay a satellite provider? Maybe you're hip and access them through the web, using the connection you pay for. The only way you are consuming this stuff for free is OTA antenna, and I'm guessing most people aren't doing that these days, especially this group. I'm on the fence with this because I simply don't watch much of what Hulu offers anyway, but if you do, paying $10 a month so you can cancel your $100+ a month cable bill seems like a decent deal to me.

@Spunky Monkey 190906 Don't know about anyone else, but I'm pretty pissed I can't play the original X-COM right now! I guess I'll have to wait until I get home from work. Hope the urge to play is still with me then.

Very cool. Congrats on the upgrade. However, in all honesty, you guys are really on a Half-Life type upgrade schedule. You need to move to an MW type schedule. I want to see a new 'stiq every 12 months! Just kidding. I saw on Twitter how hard a process this was for you guys. Congrats on getting it done. Go have a beer and enjoy E3!

@suicidebob Ha! That's rich. Seriously though, you had me going for a sec. Wait, who are you again?

I did get a chuckle out of Jobs's highlight of the $60 million in ad dollars they have committed so far. Wow Steve, really? I'm sure Google, and it's billions of ad dollars, are just quaking in their boots.