This is a real apology

Amazon took heat — a lot of it — when word got out that, in response to a publisher’s demands, it magically deleted George Orwell’s 1984 (of all books!) from people’s Kindles.  Amazon has gone a long way to redeeming itself, though, by having its CEO issue a genuine apology (as opposed to the ordinary fake kind we’re all getting used to):

This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our “solution” to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.

With deep apology to our customers,

Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com

UPDATE: A Kindle is an electronic reader.