By Stone Martindale Aug 29, 2008, 3:08 GMT
It is common practice to have obituaries of famous people prepped and ready to roll upon the bad news. Many newpapers, wires and magazines routinely do this.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs watches demonstrations of new applications for the iPhone, before he introduced the new Apple 3G iPhone, during his keynote speech at the World Wide Developers Conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, USA, 09 June 2008. The Apple iPhone will be lower in price and available in more countries. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO
Unfortunately for Bloomberg news service, one slipped through the cracks.
The story, marked “Hold for release – Do not use”, was sent in error to the news service’s thousands of corporate clients.
Bloomberg's premature Steve Jobs obituary was published after a routine update by a reporter, and was "immediately deleted", Bloomberg said.
Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003. Jobs is still alive and fine so far. The obituary contained blank spaces for Jobs’s age and cause of death to be inserted.
The Telegraph (UK) reports that the opening sentence described Jobs as the man who “helped make personal computers as easy to use as telephones, changed the way animated films are made, persuaded consumers to tune into digital music and refashioned the mobile phone.”
The 2,500-word piece also included praise for Jobs from his rival Microsoft boss Bill Gates, details of his rise from college drop-out to technology billionaire, and a list of his family “survivors”.
Details of friends and colleagues of the Apple founder to be contacted by Bloomberg in the event of his death were also published with the obituary.
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David GerardAug 29th, 2008 - 18:39:06
notnews.today.com/2008/08/29/zombie-steve-jobs-has-system-upgrade/ - 'They don't call it the Jesus Phone for nothing.'
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