Ridicule has its place.

This is going to be something of an "inside baseball" post so if you're looking for news or rumors, you're out of luck.

If, instead, you're the kind of reader who likes snippy disagreements between pedantic Mac nerds, well, read on, friend!

MacJournals News has taken to task the Mac bloggers who openly mocked "Sticker Guy" as he has come to be known -- the reporter who asked Steve Jobs why Apple doesn't participate in the "Intel inside" promotion. According to MacJournals, the revenue the promotion would generate for Apple is reason enough for the question to be a good one.

The Macalope is proud to count himself as a "Logotard", as MacJournals humorously called us, even if it is a bit of a malapropism as we are clearly "Lack-of-logo-tards".

Because it was a stupid question. Sure, maybe not the stupidest question he could have asked, but still a whopper. Because while there may be valid reasons why other companies might take Intel's money and run, there is no chance on Odin's green earth that Apple would ever do it. To ask such a question is simply to display one's ignorance of Apple and Steve Jobs. The only stickers that you'll find on Apple products are those clear ones that protect them on their magical journey to your doorstep.

MacJournals lists other possible questions a reporter could have asked Jobs and discounts them because he would not have provided anything other than...

...marketing platitudes about great new products, great Intel chips, how cool Leopard is, and how hard they're working on the future.

How that excuses asking a stupid question is quite beyond the horned one, but it's also just not true. At All Things Digital, for example, Jobs was asked about the stagnancy of .Mac and revealed that a revision would be coming soon.

Is it easy to get information out of him you wouldn't get somewhere else? No. But it's not impossible, and "Sticker Guy" blew an opportunity. It's not the end of the world, it doesn't mean he's stupid, but there are times when people do stupid things that are just funny.

[fakebobkeefe]

Everyone wanted to know, I just asked it.

Mock all you want, but several people have told me they wanted to ask the question too.

[bkharmony]

Yeah, it really was a stupid question

Macylope got one reason why - it shows a complete ignorance of what Apple
- as a compny - is about at its core. You know, the kind of thing someone
attending such an event should be familiar with. How did Sticker Guy get a
Press Pass? No matter - it'll surely be his last.

The other reason it was a stupid question - it was asked and answered a
couple years ago when the Intel transition was announced. Again, kinda the
sort of thingy someone covering the "Apple Beat" should know.

I was actually kind of bummed out Steve didn't fry him with an iLaser on the
spot. Steve's gotten soft, man.

[ripragged]

This seems like a good place for ridicule.

I fully agree.

Bob Keefe (the infamous "sticker guy") has once and for all destroyed the adage that there is no such thing as a stupid question.

He did it with a room full of witnesses.

Yes, Virginia, there are some questions that are too lame to be asked.

[jonesay]

The Germ of An Idea

Perhaps if Apple printed the Intel logo on the protective stickers you mentioned,
then they could qualify for the free money while still not "buggering up" their
products. When you peel off the sticker that protects the screen on your
Macbook, you take the Intel sticker too.

Then again, Apple makes such beautiful packaging, I'd be a shame to see that
buggered up, too. So, I'm sure they wouldn't do it for that reason alone.

[whalt]

He was doing his job.

I think this whole giddy "look at what a bonehead" episode reveals more about various Mac blogger's ignorance of journalism than about this one guy's Apple cluelessness. It's very likely that the reporter knew exactly why Apple does not participate in the Intel Inside program before he even asked the question. What he was most likely doing was fishing for a provocative response from Steve. One that would make good copy to liven up what otherwise would be a rather dry, spec-heavy report. To some extent he succeeded as Steve's quote was widely repeated even in stories that did not take the reporter to task. I'm sure he would have been even more pleased if he'd gotten Jobs to give up some disparaging quotes about either Intel or other manufacturers which he has been know to do. That's probably why Jobs quickly made it clear that Apple wasn't dissing Intel because he knew that reporters would likely to play up that angle. Schiller's remarks while more condemnatory of other companies didn't receive much attention because, well, they were said by Phil Schiller who most people have never heard of.

[cnetter001]

here's the thing

if you have to ask why it was a stupid question, well, then,....

but if one really wants to talk about it then, well, apple spends a lot on design
and clean lines. Those ugly stickers would destroy that look. In which case,
they might as well not spend the money on the design and clean lines. In which
case they would make computers that look like Dells. In which case they would
be on the path to going bankrupt like the pre-return of Jobs in the nineties
beige box days. But a reporter covering the Apple beat knows all this right?

[peterissorry]

intel inside

He has posted a response saying that he's actually working on a story about the
Intel Inside program, so he was probably looking for a quote. He must have
already known what the answer would be.