Saint Steve Jobs "insulted" Cingular for iPhone

APPLE GURU Steve Jobs managed to insult his telco partners Cingular until they bent all their rules to take his iPhone project, an august journal claimed yesterday.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Jobs started out by reminding Cingular that it was an 'orifice' and should not get too cocky over what it could do.

He dismissed them as "commodities" and telling them that they would never understand the Web and entertainment industry the way Apple did.

And did this smug talking get him punched? Er no. OK, it is true that some of the carriers walked away from talking to the entertainment gear maker but apparently Cingular liked it when Jobs talked tough. Apple laid down some rules which required Cingular to bend its own policies to get the Apple contract. Only three executives at the carrier got to see the iPhone before it was announced. Cingular had to leave its brand off the body of the phone and it was not allowed to have any of its own software on board.

Cingular has to share with Apple a portion of the monthly revenues from subscribers and can only flog it through Cingular and Apple stores, as well as both companies' Web sites.

Cingular apparently was happy to roll over and listen to Jobs insult them in a hope that being the exclusive US provider for the iPhone will pay off.

If it doesn't, then I suspect that punch in the face might be coming, a bit delayed, but still coming.

More here. µ