[TillE]

It's a really weird return to the Steve Jobs attitude towards problems like this. Except then it was usually literally Steve writing statements and saying those things, and now it's just a faceless Apple Inc which is even less sympathetic.

I don't know who these statements are for, aside from the most devoted Apple fans. I feel like investors would be happier with shorter, more professional communication.

[addicted]

Steve Jobs never did it publicly.

He pulled some childish moves that the public found out about (Engadget being banned from reporting on Apple when a reporter wrote about an iPhone prototype they found in a bar or something is one of the next examples I can think of) but it wasn’t Apple officially behaving childishly in public.

[jerojero]

They probably have a WWSD (what would Steve do) attitude. I wouldn't be surprised if he's turned into an idol within the company.

In any case, most of the broad public is not really aware of these things at all. So I doubt it really tarnishes their image much.