Richard S. Levick, reporting for Forbes:

“In any event, we don’t often see a corporate kingpin deliver such a multifaceted message about a product, his company and himself. Even without the triumphant earnings report, two fundamental truths came through, and they both ultimately bode well for Apple and its stakeholders.

The first is that when you’ve used your peacetime effectively, by building support among vital stakeholders and fanning the warm fires of their impassioned loyalty, you can survive big mistakes. The failed leadership decried in the Washington Post and other venues might have been fatal for most leaders other than Steve Jobs. We saw another example of the salutary effect of longtime trust and brand equity with consumers who might otherwise have deserted in droves when Toyota faced all its product quality woes in the past year.

The second lesson is that the right fix in a crisis can seem almost miraculous. Assuming the iPhone 4 case giveaway works and customers are kept satisfied, Apple will reinforce its brand more emphatically than if the crisis had never happened. Apple will have delighted the crowd, all the more so because the crowd held its breath to see if Houdini would escape the trap. If the fix works, Jobs’ demeanor at the press conference only reinforces the zeal of his loyalists, and it likely wins new adherents to the cult, too.”

Now go ahead, and start saying that this was all planned.

P.S.

If so, what a plan.