Steve Jobs Tells iPodRip to Change the Name -- Not a Big Deal

Steve Jobs sent a curt reply to The Little App Factory, telling them it was not a big deal for them to change their Apple trademark-infringing, iPodRip product name.

Rewind: iPodRip was software designed to pull media off an iPod (no, not for piracy, but to recover files in the event you lost them on the host machine). Apple's lawyers complained. The Little App Factory's John Devor wrote a plea for help. Jobs responded in typical fashion.

Long story shorter: iPodRip has been renamed iRip.

Bigger picture: Yes. Steve's back, baby! The curt reply has returned!

Our only question now: Who's next?!

[Full text of both emails is up at CrunchGear. Via Gizmodo]

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.

28 Comments

LOL!!! And he even has a typo! (should be app's). But I guess we can let that slide since it was sent from his iPhone.
Now let's see if he can send a "curt reply" to whoever is mismanaging the iPhone app-rejection process.
Do you really believe that Steve Jobs would respond to someone. LOL
I know this has nothing to do with the topic, but has Steve Jobs ever been onto this site? I mean did he ever make a comment or something. I'm sure he's busy and all, but ehhh.
@leanna lofte
ouch! :)
I find it funny that he has the faggetty default signature "Sent from my iPhone". This is probably why the iPhone doesn't allow different signatures for different email accounts; because Steve Almighty doesn't use it.
Sorry if I don't want to respond to customers with "Sent from my iPhone"
Well the obvious question is how long till Rene gets the Dread "Change your blog name. Not that big of a deal" email.
And how many jokesters are pecking thi into their phones right now?
And trust Joe McG to introduce an offensive note into the discussion with his use of the term "faggetty". Misspelled, of course.
Unfortunately, as the saying goes, "It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument".
Lol. Smh.
If I couldn't trust people not to post my emails all over the internet, I'd keep them brief too. :roll:
iPhone gave me cancer. =8^(
@Icebike, I'm waiting for that day too.
Of course it is no big deal. Just like this mail, sent every year for 19 years:
Steve --
Change your company's name. Not that big of a deal.
John, Paul, George, Ringo
Not sure John actually ever wrote an email...
I was trying to think of all the cases I knew of where this has happened (which are many, and the dev should suck it up IMO), and I was reminded of one somehow involved with this site, but couldn't quite remember. Did PhoneDifferent used to be called iPhone Different?
And that led me to wonder, how DO you guys get away with a name like The iPhone Blog?
@KP:
And that led me to wonder, how DO you guys get away with a name like The iPhone Blog?
Maybe that's why Rene feels compelled to play the fawning fanboy...
--me, running and ducking....
He just had to send it from his iPhone didn't he.
That is cool. Atleast he was courteous.
Everyone can complain all they want but, for now, the rules are the rules. Why would Jobs make an exception for one developer? He wouldn't. Change the name. iRip sounds a million times better anyway. What other kind of response did the developer expect?
BTW - I quite enjoy the iPhone sig. It sounds a lot nicer than "Sent from my Verizon Wireless Blackberry". Now that's gay.
@obligatoryjoke: That was funny!
I hope the return of Real Steve bodes well for an outstanding iPhone upgrade next summer (don't shoot your wad on the tablet-thingy that is, or isn't coming out).
Steve's reply is entirely consistent with the Apple way: Concise and to the point.
I would have thought Jobs would change the signature. Maybe...
"sent from the iPhone"
We're just unlucky it didn't truthfully report:
"Sent from my aluminum unibody iPhone 4G"
If anyone has one...
Intriguing strategy. I'm suprised I didn't notice this on any of the big news sites first.Well played!
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