Oh, I remember this story now! It's The Book of Jobs!
I think it's the one where Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL ) Steve Jobs decides to see just how much punishment mere mortals can take without losing their faith. Will their undying, unconditional love persevere under all circumstances? What kind of ridiculous abuse might they withstand?
Ah-ha: a phone with a fickle, possibly faulty antenna! What a perfect test of fealty! Especially when coupled with the bizarre explanation that many seem to accept: Look, folks, all phones have signal problems! Oh, right -- the lesson is that bad stuff happens in the world, so we should all just suck it up, right?
Unfortunately, other corporate managers seem to have succumbed to similarly bizarre temptations to push the limits lately. Toyota (NYSE: TM ) may have forgotten that there are certain elements most folks expect in a vehicle: proper steering, the ability to control one's acceleration ... you know, little things like that.
Similarly, BP (NYSE: BP ) apparently drilled for oil in dangerous ultra-deepwater depths without much thought about what to do if something went wrong. Granted, robots are pretty cool, but when even they seemed to blunder over the fixes, it didn't exactly lift our collective spirits. What fresh, oily hell is this?
Corporate CEOs do eventually find out that "mere mortals" get really angry sometimes; that wrath can damage brands and reputations for good. Though the cult of Apple is amazingly powerful, peddling a phone that may fail to reliably make phone calls could stretch even the most diehard loyalists' devotion. Apple products have historically been known for quality, but too many more gaffes like this one could tarnish the brand's luster.
Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT ) brand has been thoroughly walloped over the years by product delays, frustrating features, security flaws, and more. Was there a point where its management started making defensive rationalizations about the nature of things, instead of finding fixes?
Hopefully, corporate management teams will stop trying to push their customers further than common sense allows. Usability and safety are common-sense elements to nail down before releasing a product into the wild or embarking on a risky operation. There are no gods on management teams -- just stars that can fall, and fall hard.
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