They say that every genius has his crazy side. A complicated character too and we will not discover at this stage that Steve Jobs had a little bit of everything. There are dozens of anecdotes (real and even fictional) about how the now deceased Apple co-founder made employees tremble with his words. The Phillip Shoemaker case is proof of this, even if he himself justifies the harsh words addressed to him by the boss.
Shoemaker worked as an app approval manager for the App Store and in one of the company’s sweetest moments, someone who reported to him made a serious mistake. Luckily for him, beyond being called an “idiot” by Jobs, he didn’t end up with a termination letter or anything similar.
“Shaken Baby Syndrome” and How Jobs Taught a Hurtful But Brilliant Lesson
Phillip Shoemaker, former head of App Store app approval at Apple
Year 2009. The iPhone is celebrating its two-year anniversary and is already enjoying great popularity thanks, among other things, to the arrival of the application store a year ago. Every developer wanted to get their work into the App Store, the company’s stock was hitting all-time highs, and there was an apparent air of happiness about everything. And the baby’s shaking came.
“Baby Shaker” was one of those stupid apps that was so trendy to add to the App Store. Its developers requested entry into the store at a time when, as Phillip Shoemaker acknowledges, the volume of requests was skyrocketing. With only three weeks to approve or reject applications, the “Baby Shaker” one remained.
It was an app that seemed harmless, no matter how absurd it was. Basically it was a drawing of a baby who ended up crying. In this situation, the user had to shake their iPhone to calm it down, but if this was done, sinister crosses would appear in the baby’s eyes, simulating their death with a stern warning reading “Never shake a baby!”
At this sweet moment for the company, the fact that such a sinister application was approved did not go unnoticed by shareholders and a certain noisy public. So much so that Shoemaker remembers that on those days, dozens of people gathered around Apple headquarters, including those still in Infinite Loop, to demand the removal of “Baby Shaker.”
And this reached Jobs’ ears, of course…
We don’t know if Steve Jobs was aware of everything that was happening at Apple. Probably not. The case of the “Baby Shaker” app actually got to him and as you can imagine, his reaction wasn’t exactly gentle, although Shoemaker remembers it as “one of the best conversations I’ve had with Steve.”
Through the mouth of the protagonist we know what that conversation with the then CEO of Apple was like. He received a call already identified as Jobs’ office and when he answered, he verified that it was indeed Jobs. I just listen “You are stupid and you hire stupid people” (or “idiot”, depending on how you want to translate it). The fact is that after that Jobs hung up.
There is no denying that this was a great lack of respect. We’ll all agree that it doesn’t matter whether it’s a boss or another coworker doing it. However, For Shoemaker, it was an important lesson. He doesn’t blame her at all and even agrees with the swearing acknowledging that indeed he is considered stupid for not hiring the appropriate people to review this application and not for personally reviewing it.
Far from being fired or considering leaving, Shoemaker stayed at Apple for seven more years
It’s almost natural that after a call like this we break out in a cold sweat, fearing for our work. Especially if, as in Shoemaker’s case, you’ve been in a senior position for less than a month. However, the blood did not reach the river. Quite the contrary.
Shoemaker continued to lead the App Store review and approval team for seven more years without any similar scandals. And in the short term, the App Store ended the last quarter of 2009 generating revenue of $11.5 billion. Almost nothing.
By | INC.
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