14 DAY TRIAL // Apple's statement on the iPods that accidentally left the factory infected with a virus was bound to start a fire, and it did. The statement about the RavMonE.exe virus ended with 'as you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it.'
Security and quality assurance experts reacted negatively by stating that Apple's efforts to deflect blame onto Microsoft are misleading and the batch of factory-infected iPods reveals a troubling lack of thoroughness in the company's manufacturing process. "It's not a matter of which platform the virus originated [on]. The fact that it's found on the portable player means that there's an issue with how the quality checks, specifically the content check, was done," Jonathan Poon, the man in charge of scanning Microsoft products for viruses before they ship, wrote in a blog entry. Things even went as far as some accusing Apple of intentionally introducing the virus.
Greg Joswiak, vice president of iPod product marketing at Apple declined to speculate on whether the worm was intentionally introduced, or whether it was spread from an iPod to the machine. He did acknowledge that around 25 iPods were infected by a Windows system that was used during manufacturing to test compatibility with the devices. "It was an exception to our process," he said. "We believe we have a good process and we're going forward."
On the company's statement about Windows, his response was short but quite to the point. "Isn't that true? We tried to be open and explain what's going on. We're not trying to dismiss our role."