A reader just emailed us to point out a post I wrote this past April. MacStories.net had published an email a developer at Chiaro Software had sent Steve Jobs to ask him if the rumors of a Mac App Store and no software running on OS X without authorization from Apple were true. Job’s answer? “Nope.”
Yesterday’s Mac App Store announcement puts a different spin on that response. Jobs sent the “nope” email in late April. It’s unrealistic to think that Apple had no plans for a Mac App Store at that time — I mean, it was less than six months ago.
Does that mean Jobs was lying? Not lying so much as ‘selectively answering.’ The developer asked Jobs a two-part question to which Jobs answered truthfully to one part (you will still be able to install & run OS X apps on the Mac that are not bought through the Mac App Store) and left out the part where Apple was actually working on a Mac App Store.
So the “nope” was true — just not the whole truth. As my colleague Erica Sadun has pointed out, regarding Apple’s future product directions and plans, when Jobs says “No” you should always hear “Maybe.”
Can you trust a Steve Jobs email? “Nope.” originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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