Not the fruit, but the company that makes ipod nano, wrote back to a third-grader who has just learned how to write formal letters. In this CBS story , the third grader thought of sending her suggestions on how to make ipod nano better to Apple C.E.O., Steve Jobs. She got a reply from the legal department of the software company and it broke her heart.

I know Steve Jobs only from the movie “Pirates of Silicon Valley“, a tv movie that documents IBM, Apple’s and Microsoft’s company backgrounds. It shows the humble beginning of the computer companies in the 70’s and how they plundered each others’ technologies to create the basics of every fun gadget that we’re enjoying now.

In the cease and desist letter from Apple’s legal department, the company bluntly told the 9-year-old to stop sending suggestions to Steve Jobs. The girl just thought that listening to music in her ipod nano would be more fun if the lyrics of the song were placed there and the listener could sing along. The whole family stood around the computer waiting for Steve Job’s reply and was shocked to read the insensitive message.

While I sympathize with the little girl’s mom on her indignation at the trauma that this could have caused her daughter, I personally think that Apple made the right move. The letter contains a suggestion for a technology that could be in the works in Apple already for all we know. If Apple did entertain the 9-year-old’s letter in a way that they seem to consider her suggestion, the family could keep that letter as a basis for claims if the said technology ever does come out.

May the little girl grow up with the vendetta to be richer than Apple. May she take this experience in a constructive way.

• If you liked this post please subscribe to my feed. Or scroll down and leave a comment.