Cellphones are everywhere in India. Practically everyone already has a cellphone, or is going to get one this week. Text Messages (locally called SMS) are often free, or are dirt cheap. It is common even for low-wage workers (day labourers, porters, gardeners) to have cell-phones in India. This is, in part because the landline infrastructure is very poor and unreliable, and a open economy has meant that cellphone operators have been able to provide good service for really competitive rates.
Why is the DaringFireball article here? and why does it have a 100 votes? The guy has just quoted the Wired article without adding anything on his own?
I thought you were incorrect, but Boy Genius Report just posted this update:
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UPDATE: The last line in the email exchange was actually not said by Mr. Jobs; rather it was by “Tom.” We corrected it as soon as we were made aware.
Strange... it doesn't seem to really make sense in context. Why is he telling Jobs to relax and that it's "not worth it"? He's irate that his phone doesn't work right but then when Jobs says they're working on it, he tells Jobs that it's not a big deal?
In reading the email communication and also paying attention to the timeline, I did not get the impression that the OP was "pestering" the Apple Manager. He was cordial and gently reminding that he was promised a response and had not received one.
If anything, I got the impression that the Apple Manager was stalling (or maybe he really was ill and it really took him 10 days - from May 4 to May 14 - to "get back on his feet")
If anything, I got the impression that the Apple Manager was stalling (or maybe he really was ill and it really took him 10 days - from May 4 to May 14 - to "get back on his feet")
Or else he's just a busy guy with a lot on his plate apart from this one project which he's not that interested in with some guy who keeps pestering him.
Especially considering the timeframe - right around WWDC. This eng manager was likely scrambling like crazy to get ready for that.
Also, if the manager was considering hiring this guy, he was probably looking not just at his code, but evaluating what kind of a person he is and culture fit. If they're hustling to get ready for WWDC while this guy keeps emailing and pointing out what competitors like Google are doing (as if they don't know this), he may have concluded that this is someone he just doesn't want to work with, regardless of the guy's algorithm.
So they are evaluating how well the guy responds to missed deadlines? It seems he was promised responses on specific timelines that kept falling through with no response and with the weakest of lip-service paid when he prodded them enough to get an answer.
If this was just trying to harden him up for what it's really like to work inside of Apple, it's a wonder they get anything done at all.
