Last year, Jawbone released UP, a highly anticipated "revolutionary" wristband that promised to "track your daily activities and inspire you to be live a healthier lifestyle." The initial reactions were positive - the wristband itself is stunningly beautiful, and the features included were very cool. Some users loved it. But others found fatal and/or highly annoying flaws in the details of its design and functioning, and they made an uproar about it.
In response, Jawbone did not hunker down. Jawbone did not go into denial, or say that the problems were due to user error or misunderstanding. Instead, Hosain Rahman, Jawbone's CEO, took the extraordinary step of posting a letter on the web site that said, in part: "While many of you continue to enjoy the UP experience, we know that some of you have experienced issues...Given our commitment to delivering the highest quality products, this is unacceptable, and you have our deepest apologies."
But he did not stop there. He then said the following:
When you see a company do this, you know that it is on the right track for the future. You want to buy more of their products. I just bought a Jambox speaker from them with my refund. And who knows, I may just buy some stock in the company.
