Bono Says Steve Jobs Is Poetic, Both an Artist and a Businessman

As a response to “The Mystery of Jobs’s Public Giving”, by Andrew Ross Sorkin, U2 frontman and activist Bono has written a letter expressing his most sincere thoughts about Apple’s former CEO and current Chairman of the Board, Steve Jobs.

Bono’s letter obviously mentions Product RED, a brand founded in 2006 by the U2 frontman in partnership with Bobby Shriver of ONE/DATA.

Its purpose: to engage the private sector in raising awareness and funds to help eliminate AIDS in Africa.

Apple mostly participates in the initiative with its iPod lineup, of which the iPod nano and the iPod shuffle models have sold the most units.

When a customer chooses Product RED Special Edition iPod models and iTunes Gift Cards, Apple gives a portion of the purchase price to the Global Fund.

But it’s not just AIDS that the money is raised to fight. Created in 2002, the Global Fund also aims to combat Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The organization supports large-scale prevention, treatment and care programs for these three infectious diseases.

A quarter of all international funding for HIV/AIDS-related programs, over half for tuberculosis, and almost three-quarters for malaria worldwide comes from The Global Fund at the moment, according to Wikipedia.

Bono’s words of praise for Steve Jobs, courtesy of The New York Times, can be found below:

Re “The Mystery of Jobs’s Public Giving,” by Andrew Ross Sorkin (DealBook, Aug. 30):

As a founder of (Product)RED, I’d like to point out that Apple’s contribution to our fight against AIDS in Africa has been invaluable. Through the sale of (RED) products, Apple has been (RED)’s largest contributor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria — giving tens of millions of dollars that have transformed the lives of more than two million Africans through H.I.V. testing, treatment and counseling. This is serious and significant. And Apple’s involvement has encouraged other companies to step up.

Steve Jobs said when we first approached him about (RED), “There is nothing better than the chance to save lives.” 

I’m proud to know him; he’s a poetic fellow, an artist and a businessman. Just because he’s been extremely busy, that doesn’t mean that he and his wife, Laurene, have not been thinking about these things. You don’t have to be a friend of his to know what a private person he is or that he doesn’t do things by halves.

 BONO
 Dublin, Sept. 1, 2011