Apple's response to this letter is not surprising at all. In all actuality, the letter probably never reached Mr. Jobs. Some underling got the letter and did his/her job by the letter of the Apple law and returned the impersonal form letter. Too bad for Apple. If someone at Apple had been "thinking differently," they might have chose to break the rules by sending a personal response to this little girl. That would have shown some humanity and compassion.

boo hoo. it's a hard life and this little girl will learn soon enough.

Give me a break. Yeah, it was from the Apple legal department, and was worded impersonally. That's unfortunate. But what did they expect? A hand-written note from Jobs?

If my daughter wanted to write Steve Jobs a letter, I would tell her up front that he probably would never receive it. And I would console her when it turned out that way. But I would never be "stunned" enough to call a news station. That's pitiful.

Or someone at Apple has been infected with Borg nanoprobes and has become the ultimate in office automation. Happens frequently in large organisations.

As the saying goes: One impersonal letter a day helps keep the customer at bay.

...Since if Apple hadn't done exactly what it did, somewhere down the line, an idea similar to what the girl proposed might get implemented in the iPod line - and BAM!!! - this girl's family is suing Apple for "stealing" her invention.

As for the letter reaching Jobs, since it contained product ideas/enhancements, it was probably red-flagged and immediately went to the legal department before he had any chance of seeing it.

As an aside, is the content of this girl's letter anywhere where we can read it? I'm curious, since there's a lot of "Apple could have been nice to the little girl..." floating around, but I haven't seen anything that indicates Apple had any way of knowing this was anything other than some patent-squatting type of outfit looking to make a quick buck by sending out "idea" letters to every comany under the sun in a shotgun approach to finding a target for a legal action, and wrangling a settlement payout out of the deal. (Whew, that's a mouthful )

Did Apple have any way of knowing it was a nine year old who sent it? If she typed and printed the letter, probably not.

If Mr. Jobs acknowledged every letter sent to him there would be no time for getting his jobs done. It's nice that a little girl chose to write to Mr. Jobs, too bad her parents were not more involved to help her choose a more appropriate person to write to.

Sounds like that form letter needs a 'niceness' makeover. There's a diplomatic way to say anything, and obviously whatever was in that letter wasn't it.

Kinda sucks for Apple, its a PR black eye, for sure. We might not think so, but a story like that just makes Apple sound like Darth Vader to Joe Average. Obviously something to be avoided in the future.

its a normal response. The same one you or me would get if we sent any great ideas to apple in the hope that they would include it in there next product. The reason ist that Apple has to make sure nobody Sues them for using your or my idea in a new product. So a good way to make sure a Feature is not inkluded is to Patent it and then surgest to apple they include it. .-))

that's pitiful !

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Guest wrote:
Sounds like that form letter needs a 'niceness' makeover. There's a diplomatic way to say anything, and obviously whatever was in that letter wasn't it.

It's because of parents like this, that we get kids that ar whineyer and whineyer.

Sure, it would be great if Apple had some interns or grandpas or special Mac Mini, devoted soley to responding "appropriately" to this kind of suggestion. Despite some people's perception, Apple IS a "touchy feely" organization, and when they can, they go out of their way to prove it. A couple of years ago my wife contacted them on my behalf (unbeknownst to me) about how much I loved the company/product, and what would I need to do to get a job with them. They actually contacted her back in a very friendly manner. She didn't go through any "proper channels". She just found an email address and sent one.

In a perfect world Apple would have some how spotted this particular letter (or responded "kinder" to all letters I suppose), and everyone would have had a warm fuzzy feeling inside. The reality is that even when a precious little angel sends a letter to a big company, sometimes you're not handed a lollipop and sent a free iMac. It just don't happen.

Shame on the parents for perpetuating the feeling of entitlement that so many of our younger population seem to have. And shame on the "news" department for jumping on it like it was an actual story. The headline should have read, "When Are Parents Going To Start Teaching Their Kids Life Lessons, and Stop Teaching Them How To Be Victims". I think we ALL need to THINK a little DIFFERENT>

so while its sad that it turned out this way, let's look at another way things could have gone.

apple accepts the letter and as it turns out whatever function or idea the 9 year old had was already in plan to be added to the ipod. months later the new ipod comes out, and this time the 9 year old's, parents lawyer sends a letter saying "you took my idea and I want x million dollars"

dang lawyers ruin everything.

In two years (age 11), she will be on TV when she gets upset because the other kids are noticing that she's starting to grow boobs.

In four years (age 13), she will be on TV when she gets upset her pet gerble she's had since 4th grade dies.

In six years (age 15), she will be on TV when she gets upset that nobody asked her to the homecoming dance.

In seven years (age 16), she will be on TV when she gets upset realizing that sweet-16 doesn't mean a driver's license or a new car, and even if it did mean a new car, it would probably mean a used Saturn.

In nine years (age 18), she will be on TV when she gets upset that her boyfriend wants to smoke crack at Senior Prom and that she has to put up with it because all her friends will be in the limo with them.

In ten years (age 19), she will be on TV when she gets upset that Cal State Vacaville won't accept her into its Fast Food Register Management Major.

The only winner in this scenario is the TV station.

She should have tried contacting the creepy king on the Burger King commercials. Maybe he'd show up peeking in her window or in her closet.

The story makes it sound like Apple put a gun to a 3rd grader and told her not to send any ideas again or we will shoot her.
Come on talking about over reacting to a piece of paper. If you send things like that to other companies you would probably get the same kind of response.

great, then another 500 3rd graders across the US would decide to write to Apple too. Then we have to create an informal - formal letter that we'd have to send out...

It has been touched on-but really-who are these parents? They just taught a fairly vile lesson to their little girl. If you don't get what you want or expect from any given unsolicited thing you do-whine to the media. Don't get the grade you want in school-whine to the Dean. What is this-a nation of whiners There is a price for hypersensitivity. I'm sure Apple's personal appology didn't satisfy them either. Those gestures never do with people like this. While I'm at it, shame on the media too-the story editor at that station needs a kick-in-the-ass! Blaw!

...if an "impersonal" letter makes television news. I think it is just a nice introduction to today's society. Wiat until she gets mail addressed to her as "occupant" or "current resident." That will make her flip!

As so many have said, this child has been taught that whining is the way to get what you want. The fact that Apple called should have been enough. I had my 15 year old daughter read this and she said Apple should have called the little and told her to get a life. I have taught my children thathard work and perserverance will get you what youi want, and whining will get you nowhere. This kind of crap in the media undermines the efforts of parents like me who do not want to contribute to a generation of whiners.

Those parents are painfully naive, and CBS 13 was grossly irresponsible in raking up emotions over such a meaningless issue. Whining about Steve Jobs' lack of response to a 9-year-old's suggested improvements is the best they could do? Seriously. Are they honestly trying to make the American public even dumber by diverting valuable time away from real issues? What about the lack of response in our elected officials? Unlike Steve Jobs, our elected officials are supposed to be working for us. Has anyone who has written their Senator or Representative ever received anything besides a form letter from them? Just another example of whining about that cat caught in the dumster while the nation goes down the tubes. (Sorry, the vendetta there got a little out of control.)

Be mad at the lawyers. They're the ones making it risky for a company to accept letters like this.

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jimothy wrote:
Be mad at the lawyers. They're the ones making it risky for a company to accept letters like this.

You are so right. Our legal system is clogged nearly to the point of exploding with frivilous lawsuits, and one of the roots of that problem is the same as this little girl and her parents getting so upset. America has this reputation of being this great land of plenty, where anyone (even non-citizens) can get what they want, whenever they want it. We've got fast food, movies on demand, cell phones, and all sorts of other things that make our desires easily fulfilled. The problem with this is that, generation after generation, people are viewing these things more and more like basic rights instead of perks. Kids aren't being taught that life isn't fair. Certainly an increased degree of sensitivity is needed when trying to explain things to children, but being so hypersensitive is giving us this little girl: someone who whines to the media when a faceless corporation doesn't alter their daily routine to write her back personally. If this trend continues, the image of our nation will change from that of an inovative land of opportunity to a big damn collection of petulant children. And at that point, everything will come crumbling down...

When I was a kid I sent Lego a letter and some designs I had created. They sent back a similar letter. I was upset and my parents consoled me, but call a TV station?! What has this world come to?

"Our legal system is clogged nearly to the point of exploding with frivilous lawsuits..."

Can you cite any data to back this up?

Yes, I agree that it was ridiculous for those parents to call a TV station over what happened. But I don't get where this idea comes from that frivolous lawsuits are choking our legal system.

I raised 4 kids who are now on their own. We still get along great. This story sickens me. She's probably a only child. Parent of only children seem to try and please them in any way possible.

I think that under- not over- reacted. It is clear that this offensive reply from Apple has trampled this poor girl's civil rights. They should have sued! I'm sure there is a law firm licking their chops at the thought of forming a class from the recipients of similar letters and trying to tap into Apple's cash reserves.

Sheesh.

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Anonymous wrote:
...shame on the media too-the story editor at that station needs a kick-in-the-ass! Blaw!

So, I'm guessing either you people were never 9 years old, OR, alternately, that if you were you never got over the fact that all the other kids called you names or something. Shite.

She wrote a letter and got back a Legal Form. I think that her parents should have prepared her better. Talked about what kinds of responses that a company can send back and why they do that. Not just let her walk into it blind. They didn't call for a boycott, they're not on hunger strike, they didn't sue. They were pissed. Imagine that.

_Having_ said that, Apple's response DID suck. I know why they do that, but the fact is, if my daughter sent a letter to the U.S. President, and she talked about keeping our country safe, I would be shocked to get a letter from the Department of Justice back. Same thing. She would get back a nice "form letter' that thanked her for her time.

Why? Because companies have people who handle this kind of thing, or at least they're supposed to.

Apple screwed up, it's O.K. They'll hopefully improve because of this. That's how you learn. And the little girl will learn that companies make mistakes.

I wonder if the letter reads something like this!

Here's why it stinks. It stinks because — and I own several Macs — it shatters any fantasy that Apple is anything more than a corporation that makes stuff.

When I was a kid, I once sent a fan letter to Kenner Toys, with some of my favorite Spirograph designs tucked in. In response, I got a signed letter from someone in the company, complete with a pack of refill paper and an updated list of instructions for making cool new patterns.

When i was a kid, i sent a letter to General Mills telling them how much I liked "Bugles" snack crackers, and they sent me a coupon good for a free bag and a thank you note saying how much they liked hearing from kids.

So, yes, I'm bummed for this kid.

And if Steve doesn't want to get criticized for stuff like this, then he can stop slathering his personality all over the corporate branding and coming out on stage at Macworld like a rock star. But if you put yourself out there like that, then when the company makes a crappy move like this, you ought to take responsibility for it. This girl should get a new iPod and 100 free songs for her trouble. Or, when I was growing up in the 60's, she might have…

Grumpy mode off.

When I was around her age (8 or 9), I wrote to Apple with some questions and ideas. I also included a photo of myself in an Apple-logo Halloween costume I used one year; maybe it was that last bit that did it, but I didn't get such a cold response. In fact, I received a personal response from a woman who, if I remember correctly, was a secretary or spokeswoman close to Steve Jobs, and I was invited to Cupertino, where she gave me and my family a personal tour of the campus. Obviously they can't do that for every kid who writes to them, but it's too bad they handled it so coldly like this. On the other hand, the girl's parents should have known better than to have expected a friendly personal respponse or something, and I think they were being unreasonable by getting the media involved.

The above post was by me, by the way. I forgot to log in.

I checked out the news cast via the provided link. The station panned over what seemed to be the actual letter. By pausing the newscast and reading the available text, I formed the strong opininon that the letter from Apple actually explained why they don't accept unsolicited ideas. To include misunderstandings over the source of an idea. The news cast painted the letter in the worst light. Feel free to check it out....

15 years ago, I sent email to Steve Jobs [then at NeXT Computer], offering suggestions on how to improve some aspect of the product. I don't remember the suggestions - maybe something to do with Mail.app. I did get a personalized response back from Steve, thanking me for my suggestions and even offering me a job. It really was a memorable experience - much more pleasant than this little girl's experience.

Dear ____________ with sugar and spice and everything nice!

Thank you for your letter! It was very nice of you to take the time to write us! We are very happy to hear from you!

Your ideas are insanely great! But Apple sadly has a policy of not accepting ideas. We do not want anyone to feel sad or mad that we used their idea without permission. That would be wrong. We want to avoid this oopsy so we ask people to not send us their ideas just in case Apple already has a similar idea or strategy. We have a page with more information. It contains big words so ask your mommy and daddy to help explain them to you.

http://www.apple.com/legal/policies/ideas.html

We hope that you understand. We do appreciate you took the time to write to us. It makes us very happy. We have included some Apple stickers for you to enjoy. Please take care of yourself and have a nice day.

Sincerely,

Apple Computer

The people who run those shows are dumber than 3rd graders.

It sucks, but television news these days is mostly Entertainment Tonight-style presentation by over-groomed non-journalists, tabloid style "news", fluff, happy talk, eye-ball kicks and news-bite quotes from politicians who have been spoon fed by their handlers and couldn't put together a coherent sentence on their own. It's a bunch of sound and fury signifying nothing. All the better to distract people from reality that might send them to the polls or offend advertisers. Perky Katy Couric becoming a major network's news anchor says it all. "Good night and good luck" indeed!

I'm glad you posted my comment before I had to. I won't even sue for "taking" my idea. What gets rewarded gets repeated. In this case, a personal letter to a 9yr old would become HUGE bad press after all the 9yr olds were later denied personal letters from Jobs to sell on eBay.

Its amazing. A multi billion dollar company now has to worry if every letter it receives is from a third grader and has to respond accordingly. How should they have responded, on a crayon letter.

U talk about political correctnes gone bad. This is it.

http://cbs5.com/investigates/local_story_103023852.html

Actual news clip. Girl had suggested things like lyrics on the iPod so people could sing along. Already exists on her nano and the video.

Bill and friends would simply have thrown it in the trash. At least you got a response from Apple.

I sent a similar letter to the Ford Motor Co. when I was about 10--a design for a car that, oddly enough, looked a lot like the Ford Maverick they produced about a half-dozen years later. Chevy had an actual program to send in designs, but Ford was my favorite car company so I sent it to them. They sent me a form letter in reply saying pretty much what Apple said to the 3rd grader. It's 40 years later and I'm OK, I'm OK, I'm OK, OK, OK, OK...I really am. Wow! wish I'd have thought about the TV station thing

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Guest wrote:
You are so right. Our legal system is clogged nearly to the point of exploding with frivilous lawsuits

I am absolutely appalled by Apple. I cannot believe they sent a Third Grader this letter.

I switched over to Apple because I hated Microsoft. It seems to me that Mr. Jobs is fast becoming the new Mr. Gates.

I'm going to have to have a look at Mr. Torvalds now.

Quote

wraithe wrote:
_Having_ said that, Apple's response DID suck. I know why they do that, but the fact is, if my daughter sent a letter to the U.S. President, and she talked about keeping our country safe, I would be shocked to get a letter from the Department of Justice back. Same thing. She would get back a nice "form letter' that thanked her for her time.

Quote

rebbi wrote:
When I was a kid, I once sent a fan letter to Kenner Toys, with some of my favorite Spirograph designs tucked in. In response, I got a signed letter from someone in the company, complete with a pack of refill paper and an updated list of instructions for making cool new patterns.

When i was a kid, i sent a letter to General Mills telling them how much I liked "Bugles" snack crackers, and they sent me a coupon good for a free bag and a thank you note saying how much they liked hearing from kids.

Quote

Guest wrote:
Dear ____________ with sugar and spice and everything nice!

Thank you for your letter! It was very nice of you to take the time to write us! We are very happy to hear from you!

Your ideas are insanely great! But Apple sadly has a policy of not accepting ideas. We do not want anyone to feel sad or mad that we used their idea without permission. That would be wrong. We want to avoid this oopsy so we ask people to not send us their ideas just in case Apple already has a similar idea or strategy. We have a page with more information. It contains big words so ask your mommy and daddy to help explain them to you.

http://www.apple.com/legal/policies/ideas.html

We hope that you understand. We do appreciate you took the time to write to us. It makes us very happy. We have included some Apple stickers for you to enjoy. Please take care of yourself and have a nice day.

Sincerely,

Apple Computer