They certainly don't kid around when they finally decide to answer bad PR.
I’m actually surprised by that. I always thought of Apple as a fairly undynamic one trick pony when it comes to PR. (The secrecy, suspense, big event and hype cycle.) I should have noticed something when they released their “Thoughts on Music” or “Thoughts on Flash” letters.
(— edit: wow. The top story right now on HN is not some article lamenting Apple’s reaction, it’s cool pictures of Apple’s testing facilities. This is fucking brilliant PR ;)
What was the quote? "The only thing worse than being talked about all the time, is not being talked about all the time". Because bad press can be turned into awesome press.
Apple builds new product -> people have problems -> Apple solves problems.
Which inevitably will imply:
Competitors builds new product -> people have problems -> ..
There is no step 3! (badum-chunk!)