My Reflection (Saiful)
It’s one issue to snidely insult a person’s personal predilections but another to spew forth unmitigated labelling such as `gullible costumers’. Mr Yeo’s commentary has sparked hatred of Apple’s overzealous fans towards the scornful government head figure. There have been speculations as to why the statement was even made in the first place but I think the motive behind the slanderous words is more profound than what we care to consider.
A nerve pricking commentary is sure to grab more spotlight as oppose to a conservative speech where words are choose wisely to avoid offending any concerning parties. Human are cynical beings, we are right even when we are wrong and we just loved to see the fall of others. We relish in knowledge that others are suffering and what is more joyous than seeing the fall of a preeminent CEO who has everything to lose? However, after all the hoopla is wrung out, curiosity will eventually get the better of us and we will start to dig deep into the many possible interpretations of the message highlighted. Placing out mint IPADs and up-to-date notebook side-by- side, we will weight its benefits and realise that there is nothing that the IPAD has to offer that haven’t been covered by the electronic book. Hence, the concept of wasteful spending arises.

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Philip in a flap over Apple ‘dummies’ remark
By Angela Lim – May 13th, 2010

SPRING Singapore chairman Philip Yeo has enraged Apple’s legion of fanatical followers in Singapore over comments they feel are derogatory.
The Straits Times reports that Apple fans are furious about his claims that people who buy applications for Apple products are “gullible customers” and that they were wasting their money on “all sorts of useless applications”.
Mr. Yeo made the comments last week when he was the guest speaker at the Fullerton-St. Joseph’s institution leadership.
“I always tell my daughter, make products and services to sell to the dummies”, he added.
The YouTube video clip, that was first posted on Razor TV, has since garnered more than 3,000 views.
While Apple declined to comment on Mr. Yeo’s statements, local Mac, iPod, iPhone and soon-to-be iPad fans in Singapore have plenty to say.
YouTube user, Cryfamm, commented: “This is so downright ignorant and lack of respect for the Apple consumers (sic). Never should anyone of certain political background dispute the grounds of any customers preference in whatever they are spending their money on (sic).”
Popular local illusionist and J.C Sum was quoted on the same newspaper as saying he was upset not by the “dummy” label but because “he is the chairman of Spring Singapore!” SPRING Singapore is an agency responsible for incubating and funding small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
YouTube user, jeremyfoo, added: “And yet if a company comes along with an idea that has the potential to make money using the same model that Apple has, he wouldn’t hesitate to have SPRING invest in it”.
Others worry that Yeo’s remarks might have harmed Singapore’s chances of securing future investments from Apple.
The 64-year-old has since clarified to the newspaper that he had simply been misunderstood. He explained that he used the word “dummies” to mean “laymen, which is the major market” and not as an insult.
“If I was calling them idiots, I would have used ‘idiots’,” he was quoted as saying.
He added that, in fact, he too has ordered an iPad and will receive one from overseas soon. He further explains that his point (that many had missed in the video) was that Singapore should learn from Apple, a company that has found a very lucrative customer base.
This is not the first time the former A*Star chairman has courted controversy.
In 1998, as Chairman of EDB, he publicly named government scholarships holders who broke their bonds in order to shame them, sparking a major debate on bond-breakers.
In 2005, The New Paper published an article on his book in which he remarked that Singapore men were “wimps, whiny, and immature” even after undergoing National Service. The reason Yeo gave was that all bond-breakers since the early ’90s were Singaporean men.
A year later, Dr. Lee Wei Ling, head of the National Neuroscience Institute and Lee Kuan Yew’s daughter, publicly questioned the policy of Philip Yeo and A*Star, asserting that they were wrong by putting public money on competing with western countries on cutting-edge research. She said that Singapore should instead focus on niche areas in Biotech research.
http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/05/13/philip-in-a-flap-over-apple-dummies-remark