McGraw-Hill's New Lesson: Don't Cross Steve Jobs

McGraw-Hill has been in the publishing biz for more than a century, but it got schooled in a modern business lesson yesterday: Beware the wrath of Steve Jobs. In his big iPad announcement, Jobs showed a slide of the publishers working with Apple on the new gizmo, but it had been altered to remove McGraw-Hill's name, reports VentureBeat. Why? Harold McGraw spilled the beans on TV the day before.

It's not clear yet whether this is just a slap on the wrist or a sign that McGraw-Hill is actually out of the deal. "Either way, it’s a concrete lesson in just how far removed the publishing industry can be from reality," writes Paul Boutin. "In the past, music and movie fatcats were able to figure out the unwritten rule that McGraw so glibly overlooked: If you’re working with Apple, shut up about it until Steve has left the stage." (More iPad stories.)