Friday, September 28, 2012

Tim Cook’s letter

At Daring Fireball, John Gruber calls Apple CEO Tim Cook’s letter re: Maps “humble and honest.” I’m almost willing to agree. What sinks the letter for me is one word the final paragraph:

Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world. We know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard.
Did you catch it? It’s that incredibly, which to my mind minimizes the company’s failure (the standard we failed to reach is incredibly high) while proclaiming the company’s greatness (the standard we will reach is incredibly high). Not exactly humble.

comments: 6

Elaine Fine said...

My father always hated it when I would use the word "incredible." He would respond, "it's very credible."

I think that, lack of humility aside, this is really a poor choice of words for Apple. Look at this first definition from Merriam-Webster:

Definition of INCREDIBLE

1: too extraordinary and improbable to be believed

Richard said...

"Incredibly high": not only is the word choice grating; the syntax is too. Most -- not all, but most -- adverbs that come before adjectives should be shot.

Michael Leddy said...

I suspect it’s meant to echo “insanely great,” though that doesn’t improve it.

Pete said...

Devious, even in the storied annals of non-apologetic apologies. If they truly had incredibly high standards, they never would have released such a substandard product.

Michael Leddy said...

I have to agree.

Anonymous said...

Time for a revised word: uncredible.