The Macalope is playing a ringtone of the world's smallest violin for you.

To be sure, operators are benefitting from the surging popularity of mobile data use. Domestic data revenue at France Telecom, the biggest seller of Apple's iPhones after AT&T Inc., surged 24 percent in the third quarter, rising to almost 32 percent of network revenue.

Well, maybe Richard's complaints sounds less whiny in French. The Macalope speaks some French, though, and he has to say that it doesn't seem likely.

Not everything that comes out of Steve Jobs's mouth is gold, of course. But, note to other technology executives: if you're going to try to distort someone's reality, at least make it sound plausible and not self-serving. If it doesn't, maybe you don't want to be saying it in public.