Apple and the Press

Posted by drwitwicki on March 14, 2013 11:51 am 15

Unless you've been living under a rock the past several months, you have probably noticed a trend. That trend has been a transparent and systematic campaign by most major technology and technology-related media publications to generate negative buzz around Apple. Among the most recent highlights we have the WSJ claiming that Apple's recent media statements have been 'defensive' in nature, falsely claiming that iOS ever held (and now supposedly 'lost') a dominant position in the smartphone market, that awful screed Tim Wu wrote a while back about open vs. closed systems...

You get the point, the list goes on. Now, for anyone who actually looks at the facts and figures, the entire situation is clearly madness (to be more accurate, it's clickbait). Rampant speculation and 'opinion' pieces have poisoned the well and replaced facts-based journalism when it comes to Apple. The facts are simple, the world's most profitable company continues it's growth trajectory, continues to attract brand new customers and switchers from competing platforms (see the first link, with Schiller).

The facts aren't the point of interest. The question now is, how should Apple be handling it's media and PR? Is the current strategy of keeping silent while occasionally sending Schiller out to make remarks about the mobile industry really the best system for Apple? Things are strange at the company right now, they've never acted in quite this manner before, it lacks drive and commitment. When there was all that nonsense about flash on iOS, Steve Jobs penned a big letter describing exactly why Apple did what it did and why that decision was correct. There doesn't seem to be much of a strong message coming out of the company right now, and I think that needs to change. The competition and a pageviews obsessed media has set the tone for too long, it is time for Apple to take it back.

EDIT: For those who cast doubt on some of my bolder claims (and I don't blame you), here's another example of the media campaign I mentioned: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21769032

If you don't feel like reading it, the BBC claims all of Apple's best-selling products are now 'missteps', despite selling better than their predecessors in every possible metric. How is this anything other than clickbait journalism?