Schumer Goes Bobbing for Apple

posted at 2:12 pm on July 16, 2010 by Diane Suffern

In an act of audacious—albeit typical—hypocrisy, Chuck Schumer issued a public letter yesterday calling for Apple to be “clear” and “transparent” with its customers concerning flaws with its new iPhone 4, one day before Apple’s scheduled press conference.  While PC fanboys probably chalk this up to pure Apple obsession reaching all the way to Capitol Hill, there’s more here than some iCultist weeping to Steve Jobs about his broken new toy.

Schumer’s admonishing letter criticized Apple for “insufficient” solutions to the alleged antenna issues and urged the the company to provide unsatisfied consumers with a free fix for their troubles.  Says AppleInsider:

The U.S. senator said he wants Apple to explain in writing to consumers the true cause of poor reception with the iPhone 4 with regards to the so-called “death grip,” experienced by some when covering the handset in its bottom left corner.

Schumer said Apple’s solutions so far, including a forthcoming software fix that will provide a cosmetic change on how signal bars are reported, have been “insufficient.” He also said the company’s suggestion to buy a case to cover the handset’s external metal antennas is not adequate.

In his own words:

I ask that Apple provide iPhone 4 customers with a clearly written explanation of the cause of the reception problem and make a public commitment to remedy it free-of-charge. The solutions offered to date by Apple for dealing with the so-called “death grip” malfunction—such as holding the device differently, or buying a cover for it—seem to be insufficient. These proposed solutions would unfairly place the burden on consumers for resolving a problem they were not aware of when they purchased their phones.

I also encourage Apple to keep its promise to provide free software updates so that bars displayed accurately reflect signal strength; I further urge Apple to issue a written explanation of the formula it uses to calculate bar strength, so that consumers can once again trust the product that they have invested in.

My, that’s quite a litany of requests from the distinguished Senator…from New York.  As in, nearly 2,500 miles from Cupertino, CA.  That’s the equivalent of Richard Burr (R-NC) upbraiding Seattle-based Boeing for its well-publicized delays in bringing its new 787 airliner to market.  Schumer’s ludicrous interference in a business on the other side of the country wasn’t lost on Rush Limbaugh, either.  In the transcript from yesterday’s show, Rush said:

The people going after Apple are a bunch of liberals, in the media to one degree or another.  Now Chuck-U Schumer piling on, a Senator from New York?  New York?  How close is New York to Cupertino, California, where the iPhone is designed?  What the hell is Chuck-U Schumer got to say about this?  “Oh, he’s a US senator!  Oh, yeah, we’re supposed to have immediate reverence. A US Senator is demanding that Apple be transparent because they’re screwing people.”  That’s the news, that’s the message: Apple’s the latest company to screw people.

A consumer electronics company, no less.

So predictable is the liberal refrain of Big Business assaulting hapless, helpless serfs that Rush smells a rat:

I know a shakedown when I see it.

And when Chuck-U Schumer pops up to get involved in this, Schumer, what, senators work for us or do they work for Wall Street?  You see the story today in the Wall Street Journal about all the senators, not just Chris Dodd, all these senators, a bunch of them, got all these cushy mortgage deals from Countrywide?  Who do they work for?  Do senators work for you or do they work for Wall Street?  Schumer should be representing Wall Street, right?  They are his constituents, should he not?  So for Schumer, joining this Apple business, we have a shakedown.  He raises more money than anybody else does from Wall Street.  So they pony up to Schumer in hopes that he’ll go after some other company or go after some other industry.  A shakedown.  It’s a protection racket.  And if you’ll notice, the people who never get shaken down and the people who never get targeted are the people who are genuinely ripping us off, teachers unions with poor schools for one example.  They’re propped up.  Go figure.

Whether this is another case of cronyism or soft racketeering, the temerity of a government official using their position to squeeze a private industry never fails to gall.  I suppose this shouldn’t surprise me, given this administration’s and Congress’ proclivity for micromanaging business from Pennsylvania Avenue.  Large companies are like Big Shiny Objects to Democrats–dangle one in front of them (particularly one embroiled in some public controversy) and they can’t help take a swipe at it, feeding off each other in the media frenzy.

There’s an inescapable link between what’s in the news and Democrats’ “concern.”  This speaks volumes about the critical lack of foundational principles and focus if the primary reason you’re in Congress seems to be taking cheap shots at the consumer scandal du jour.  Schumer’s “concerned intervention” for the people?  Stupid, pointless, inappropriate, telling.

—

UPDATE: PC World has a live update of the conference here.  Interesting paraphrase of Steve Jobs’ remarks from the feed:

“But I guess it’s just human nature when some organization gets successful, there’s someone who wants to tear it down. I see it happening with Google. Why are they doing that? Google’s a great company. Google invented all of this great stuff that we love to use. And I see them jumping on us now. Would you rather we are Korean companies rather than American companies? Do you not like that we’re innovating here in America?”

Blowback