• Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, August 25, 2009 10:40 AM

Steve Jobs is micromanaging the advertising and marketing strategy for the rumored launch of a new Apple touch-screen gadget, Yukari Iwatani Kane reports, to the consternation of employees who had gotten used to the idea of "a level of freedom over strategy and products while the CEO was on leave." A person familiar with the matter would give not details about the product or its launch date.

Responding to a query from Iwatani Kane, Jobs emailed, in typical fashion, "Much of your information is incorrect." He did not provide specifics.

Apple first filed a patent related to a tablet device as early as 2000, but Jobs killed the project twice in recent years. Analysts expect it will be a multimedia device priced between $399 and $999. Last October, Jobs rejected the idea of a cheaper computer, saying, "We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk."

Read the whole story at Wall Street Journal »