14 DAY TRIAL // Without any warning, eBay has pulled an ongoing bidding session for an iPod shuffle bearing a Steve Jobs autograph accompanied by a nifty story.
For as long as the auction was live, viewers could witness the bidding skyrocket to $10,000 in just a few hours.
The seller shared the story of how the autographed iPod came to be, revealing that he and three of his colleagues had been invited to attend an in-house Apple event as part of an “innovators of tomorrow” program.
He revealed how they had been awarded complimentary Apple products, including an iPod Shuffle and iTunes credits, and elaborated a bit on the topics covered.
“After the conference, we were given the opportunity to talk with Steve himself about the shift in technology to more companion-oriented devices,” the seller said. “As the discussion wrapped up, one person in our group asked if Steve would mind signing our iPods.”
This person allegedly told Steve that he wouldn’t mind if he didn’t sign the boxes, as he had heard that Apple’s CEO didn’t like to five autographs.
An atypically modest Steve Jobs allegedly replied with the following words:
“You heard that about me? Well, I wouldn’t say that I don’t like giving autographs. I guess I was never comfortable with the idea solely taking credit for something, which is to me what an autograph might imply. To be honest, I think I’m the last person who should sign something. A writer signing a book I can understand, but I think if anybody within our company should sign something, it should be members from our R&D team and all the others responsible for product innovation. It’s unfortunate that they all can’t receive the same level recognition. But I suppose it’s easier this way though…you would need a pretty big iPod to fit all those signatures.” The auction is now down, even though there were roughly four days left to make a bid for the invaluable Apple product.
eBay might provide some clarification as to what happened to the auction page, but don’t bet on it.