Vic Gundotra, bigwig at Google, the man behind Google+ and someone we really enjoy, has a wonderful story to tell about Steve Jobs. It’s about how Jobs called him on a Sunday to discuss an emergency.
It was January 6, 2008. This was around the time of the original iPhone, before the App Store and before most people owned an iPhone. Sundotra was attending religious services but got a call from a ‘Caller ID unknown’ number. Sundotra ignored it. When he checked his voicemail, it was Jobs saying, “Vic, can you call me at home? I have something urgent to discuss”. Sundotra called Steve back apologising:
“Hey Steve – this is Vic”, I said. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer your call earlier. I was in religious services, and the caller ID said unknown, so I didn’t pick up”.
Steve laughed. He said, “Vic, unless the Caller ID said ‘GOD’, you should never pick up during services”.
Gundotra laughed it off (nervously, he says) and wondered what kind of emergency would alert Steve Jobs on a Sunday. This is what Jobs said:
“I’ve been looking at the Google logo on the iPhone and I’m not happy with the icon. The second O in Google doesn’t have the right yellow gradient. It’s just wrong and I’m going to have Greg [Christie]fix it tomorrow. Is that OK with you?”
Minutes later Jobs sent over an email to Sundotra titled ‘Icon Ambulance’. No detail is too small. Read the whole account at Gundotra’s Google+. [Vic Gundotra+]