Apple Vs. The Media, This is why I don't put any weight behind most reviews.

[I7guy]

It is not the matter of whether it is a good 8mp camera or 3gb ram is not need. Fact is if such a specs came from other manufacturers do you think anyone would give it a second look before dismissing it? I doubt so.

Do I get my wish if I want iphone buyers to do what I wished for? Impossible if I am me.

But if I were apple which has countless of billions of cash and many media and reviewers under my influence, will I be able to sway people to buy a mediocre product by bombarding them with hypes? I would say I have a pretty good chance of success.

All the hyped up advertising can't get people to buy mediocrity. But it can get them to buy excellence.

Then show us some bad reviews.......

Maybe it's not felt the iphone merits negative reviews by the review community? Or you can show some negative reviews, no?

 

[mercuryjones]

Then show us some bad reviews.......

So, because I can't find a bad review of an iPhone, it's automatically an Apple conspiracy? It couldn't be that the iPhone's are actually very good phones, right?

 

[jamezr]

Maybe it's not felt the iphone merits negative reviews by the review community? Or you can show some negative reviews, no?

Are following the thread? Did you understand? Did you see his question? Did you follow?
He said there was negative press/reviews........so I asked for examples.

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So, because I can't find a bad review of an iPhone, it's automatically an Apple conspiracy? It couldn't be that the iPhone's are actually very good phones, right?

Here is what you said...

Here's the deal - ANYONE can throw up a website and start reviewing devices. Maybe not previewing them, but that's not what we are talking about here. If you don't like a certain website, it's not like there aren't thousands more that will give you what you seek. If you don't like what you see, then start your own. Make the change yourself. Only review products that you like.
Just because the few that you like to go to provide good reviews to Apple devices, doesn't mean that everyone does.
__________________

So what reviews were you talking about?

 

[mercuryjones]

Are following the thread? Did you understand? Did you see his question? Did you follow?
He said there was negative press/reviews........so I asked for examples.

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Here is what you said...


So what reviews were you talking about?

Not any in particular. However, I'm sure that there is someone out there that reviewed the iPhone 6/6 Plus, and did not like it for whatever reason. Sorry, but I'm not going to go and track down every bad review of an Apple product for you.

 

[Liquorpuki]

So, because I can't find a bad review of an iPhone, it's automatically an Apple conspiracy? It couldn't be that the iPhone's are actually very good phones, right?

Read the linked articles. Go look up Apple's blacklist

I've read 2 counter arguments so far
1 = Every company is unethical when it comes to influencing tech pubs so it's okay for Apple to do what they do
2 = Apple's phones are really really good, that's why bad reviews don't exist

Both those arguments are lol to me. And if you're gonna advocate for #1, at least admit tech reviews become biased garbage by extension. Because whitelisted publications no longer look at Apple with the same critical eye they use to look at other products, for fear of losing early access and the ton of $$$ that comes from being able liveblog from WWDC and post reviews on launch day

 

[I7guy]

Are following the thread? Did you understand? Did you see his question? Did you follow?
He said there was negative press/reviews........so I asked for examples.

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Here is what you said...


So what reviews were you talking about?

Apple does not control the world. Their lawyers dictate the Nda (not different for any other company) but anyone can buy an iPhone and throw up a review.

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Read the linked articles. Go look up Apple's blacklist

I've read 2 counter arguments so far
1 = Every company is unethical when it comes to influencing tech pubs so it's okay for Apple to do what they do
2 = Apple's phones are really really good, that's why bad reviews don't exist

Both those arguments are lol to me. And if you're gonna advocate for #1, at least admit tech reviews become biased garbage by extension. Because whitelisted publications no longer look at Apple with the same critical eye they use to look at other products, for fear of losing early access and the ton of $$$ that comes from being able liveblog from WWDC and post reviews on launch day

You know what I would play whatever game it took if dollars were on the line. As a consumer I always am distrustful of reviews, especially car reviews, and do my own research. Phone reviews are very easy to validate, auto reviews not so much.

As I said before, excellence not mediocrity sells.

 

[jamezr]

Quote:
Originally Posted by jamezr View Post
Are following the thread? Did you understand? Did you see his question? Did you follow?
He said there was negative press/reviews........so I asked for examples.

----------


Here is what you said...


So what reviews were you talking about?
Apple does not control the world. Their lawyers dictate the Nda but anyone can buy an iPhone and throw up a review.

You have no idea what you are talking about.....

 

[mrex]

and then as soon as Apple releases a large screen phone, whined about Apple following the trend and copying Android? Or, are we just going to disregard those?

android is an os, not a phone. apple just made a big phone because they realized they were wrong and large phones sell. they would have lost customers if they had only a small phone. but it doesnt change it that reviewers made funny about large (samsung) phones earlier...

 

[Technarchy]

Sites like the Verge, Engadget and New York times will receive review units early from Apple. If they give any of those iProducts bad reviews they risk that early access thus lose page hits.
Look at the Nexus 6 reviews from yesterday. From sites like the Verge to blog sites like droid-life they all had their reviews live at around the same time; thats how it should be. Apple shows favoritism to these sites and then turns around and uses their comments on the big screen. Pretty sick if you ask me. When it comes to iProducts and theverge I don't pay any attention. They keep giving iPad scores over 9 yet sales are dropping each year.

It's pretty standard for companies to provide review units early with an NDA. This is why everyone's review tends to drop around the same time.

When it comes to Apple you almost never see an "early" review, that includes the Verge.

No Apple doesn't deal with every D-list blog, nor should they have to, or be expected to.

 

[Sevanw]

It's pretty standard for companies to provide review units early with an NDA. This is why everyone's review tends to drop around the same time.

When it comes to Apple you almost never see an "early" review, that includes the Verge.

No Apple doesn't deal with every D-list blog, nor should they have to, or be expected to.

Is it also standard for companies to punish the reviewer for having anything negative to say. That's what this whole article is about. On second thought, forget Apple in all this, let's call or the reviewers for being the real spineless journalists that they are.

 

[MasterRyu2011]

All this talk about reviews is moot. The average consumer gets their phone review from the guy at Verizon, At&T, Tmobile, etc. Only technophiles like us actually read/watch reviews on tech sites or youtube ---- and we already know what camp we are in.

The only time I can see reviews getting exposure is when they show up on mainstream news outlets on the front page.

 

[I7guy]

You have no idea what you are talking about.....

Well I admiit just as much as most here....

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Is it also standard for companies to punish the reviewer for having anything negative to say. That's what this whole article is about. On second thought, forget Apple in all this, let's call or the reviewers for being the real spineless journalists that they are.

This is really the issue. Plus I would think Apple doesn't want negative information based on prereleased hardware or software.

 

[mercuryjones]

Is it also standard for companies to punish the reviewer for having anything negative to say. That's what this whole article is about. On second thought, forget Apple in all this, let's call or the reviewers for being the real spineless journalists that they are.

Let me ask you - Has a website/reviewer ever been punished for saying something negative about Apple in an ACTUAL review of a product? Or, has it been when they've done something displayed as negative to a device of Apple's? i.e. bending the iPhone 6 on purpose, which really proves nothing, since that's not how people use their devices. Or, you know, stealing a prototype iPhone and trying to blackmail Apple before giving it back?

 

[mrex]

Let me ask you - Has a website/reviewer ever been punished for saying something negative about Apple ...

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/apple/apple-prs-dirty-little-secret/12291

http://www.dailytech.com/Report+App...+Times+After+iEconomy+Report/article24031.htm

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2007/12/apple-and-think-secret-settle-lawsuit

valleywag.gawker.com/goodbye-to-katie-cotton-the-queen-of-evil-tech-pr-1573505515

http://valleywag.gawker.com/how-apple-owns-the-media-1630628325

 

[BJMRamage]

I can see the point of the Original Post.

I saw (and skimmed) an article the other day reviewing/comparing the iPhone 6 Plus and another phone (maybe a Nexus?? not sure). I started to read, then skimmed and went to the bottom to see "which phone is best for you/conclusion it depends on your needs and if you are currently within an OS ecosystem, if you care more about this or that" basically the oh, so average "up to you" conclusion.


I read most tech reviews from "A list" blogs/sites with a bit of Bias anyway. Many are so thrilled to have a new device anyway. Occasionally they find some fault but many say "you get used to it"

Maybe I am a bit of a skeptic anyway (but having studied Marketing and even Journalism I understand the $$ helps push the story.

BUT, I use the reviews to get an idea of any bad things. Like battery life, (I get a day out of my iPhone 6 easily), or the camera protrusion (which, yes, I have grown to accept/get used to) but then there are some reviewers who say TouchID is still faulty for them, it is not for me. And other things that I don't agree with.

BTW, that Reality show you might enjoy...maybe not directly staged but in the editing room is where the story you see comes from.

 

[Technarchy]

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/apple/apple-prs-dirty-little-secret/12291

http://www.dailytech.com/Report+App...+Times+After+iEconomy+Report/article24031.htm

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2007/12/apple-and-think-secret-settle-lawsuit

valleywag.gawker.com/goodbye-to-katie-cotton-the-queen-of-evil-tech-pr-1573505515

http://valleywag.gawker.com/how-apple-owns-the-media-1630628325

Which one of those links has a review for an Apple product?

Why ask? Because here is the actual quote you mangled to make a bad out of context point

Let me ask you - Has a website/reviewer ever been punished for saying something negative about Apple in an ACTUAL review of a product?

 

[epicrayban]

What's funny is that when I talk to my fellow iPhone owners about shortcomings of the iphone, the majority of them go "yeah I know". They're not all daft to the reality of Apple and the iPhone. They know it's not perfect. So when I press the topic out of curiosity and ask "well you know android phones can do that or do it better" they also say "I know. I've heard." And when I ask what they do about the shortcomings on the iPhone they simply just say "you get used to it." People just accept it because they want an iPhone and don't necessary want anything else.

It's branding. The Apple branding is incredibly strong. Nothing wrong with that. People want what they want. Apple sells hardware, much of it beautiful. It works.

 

[jamezr]

What's funny is that when I talk to my fellow iPhone owners about shortcomings of the iphone, the majority of them go "yeah I know". They're not all daft to the reality of Apple and the iPhone. They know it's not perfect. So when I press the topic out of curiosity and ask "well you know android phones can do that or do it better" they also say "I know. I've heard." And when I ask what they do about the shortcomings on the iPhone they simply just say "you get used to it." People just accept it because they want an iPhone and don't necessary want anything else.

It's branding. The Apple branding is incredibly strong. Nothing wrong with that. People want what they want. Apple sells hardware, much of it beautiful. It works.

^^^^ logic is strong with this one…….^^^^

 

[Savor]

When Steve Jobs was alive, he carefully handpicked the reviewers to choose. Samsung does this to the Korean media or attacks one that even mentions anything negative. The Verge sucked once David Pierce took over reviews while Josh Topolsky became buddy buddy to Matias Duarte from Google. The Verge is just as bad as Gizmodo or BGR. My fav reviewer is still Michael Fisher from PocketNow who actually finally gave a review for an iPhone with the iPhone 6 and with positive results. And he isn't an iOS fan either although used an iPhone 3G as a daily driver. He is currently a Windows Phone fan (Nokia Lumia 1020) with Android (Moto X 2013) on the side.

The best reviewer is really YOURSELF. Very hard to trust someone else's opinions.

 

[I7guy]

What's funny is that when I talk to my fellow iPhone owners about shortcomings of the iphone, the majority of them go "yeah I know". They're not all daft to the reality of Apple and the iPhone. They know it's not perfect. So when I press the topic out of curiosity and ask "well you know android phones can do that or do it better" they also say "I know. I've heard." And when I ask what they do about the shortcomings on the iPhone they simply just say "you get used to it." People just accept it because they want an iPhone and don't necessary want anything else.

It's branding. The Apple branding is incredibly strong. Nothing wrong with that. People want what they want. Apple sells hardware, much of it beautiful. It works.

It's what the branding represents, which is why I will give apple the nod over others when I want a new phone.

 

[Savor]

Influence on media is nothing new. There was a time I felt CNET was biased towards Sony. By 2006 when Sony was charging $600 for a PS3 even though they were losing $200 for each sold, Sony experienced quite a huge backlash from the public and media which they never really recovered from.

Of course, nothing does last forever. There will be a time when the media will start turning against Apple or whatever is popular like Google and Samsung. The American way of build them up and tear them down while creating another underdog story for the overachievers. There was a time Apple went against Big Brother (IBM) only to become one themselves. The Woz is right that technology is really like music. Legends like Rolling Stones or SJ's idol Bob Dylan won't apply to the newer generation. It changes and shuffles over and over.

 

[Abazigal]

News sites depend on clicks for funding. With Apple if you report the truth you get your privileges revoked so they're indirectly killing your site and driving traffic to other biased sites like The Verge, etc. That's why Anandtech only report pros and not cons when it comes to Apple product reviews since not only his privileges will be revoked but he could also lose his job at Apple.



http://9to5mac.com/2014/09/30/europ...r-accreditation-revoked-after-bendgate-video/



http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014...mpi-retires-from-journalism-to-work-at-apple/

Which is absolutely false. Anandtech has called out the iPhones for issues like antennaegate (iPhone4), scuffs (iPhone5) and lack of ram (iPad Air). His reviews are generally quite positive about Apple, but he still calls a spade a spade.

You people just want to see Apple get roasted over every misstep, however minor, and won't settle for anything less.

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Then can I ask you how you arrived at those factors? It would be pointless to debate further if you tell me that you just feel it.

You wouldn't accept them even if we mentioned them anyways. Not everything which can be measured necessarily matters to the end consumer, just as not everything which matters can be objectively quantified.

You can list a 101 things your Note phone can do which the iPhone supposedly can't. I don't care, because those are not the things which I look out for in a phone.

Apple captured 86% of the smartphone profits this quarter, compared to Samsung's 18%. Apple is clearly doing something right which resonates with their customer base, and I will give you a hint. It's not their marketing.

 

[mib1800]

Which is absolutely false. Anandtech has called out the iPhones for issues like antennaegate (iPhone4), scuffs (iPhone5) and lack of ram (iPad Air). His reviews are generally quite positive about Apple, but he still calls a spade a spade.

You people just want to see Apple get roasted over every misstep, however minor, and won't settle for anything less.

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You wouldn't accept them even if we mentioned them anyways. Not everything which can be measured necessarily matters to the end consumer, just as not everything which matters can be objectively quantified.

You can list a 101 things your Note phone can do which the iPhone supposedly can't. I don't care, because those are not the things which I look out for in a phone.

Apple captured 86% of the smartphone profits this quarter, compared to Samsung's 18%. Apple is clearly doing something right which resonates with their customer base, and I will give you a hint. It's not their marketing.

Do you realise that most who bought iphone are buying because they (thought) paying low end cheap price for it. $199 buy you an iphone. This is even cheaper than some China made phones. Iphone only has market share in places where subsidies are in place like us and japan. In low subsidies countries iphone has very little market share.

Around half of Apple profit came from US where apple together with the telcos rack up huge profit from consumers via their contract pricing.

I paid $199 for my Note 4 on 2 years contract at $35 monthly with 4GB data. How much you pay for your 6+?

 

[I7guy]

Do you realise that most who bought iphone are buying because they (thought) paying low end cheap price for it. $199 buy you an iphone. This is even cheaper than some China made phones. Iphone only has market share in places where subsidies are in place like us and japan. In low subsidies countries iphone has very little market share.

Around half of Apple profit came from US where apple together with the telcos rack up huge profit from consumers via their contract pricing.

I paid $199 for my Note 4 on 2 years contract at $35 monthly with 4GB data. How much you pay for your 6+?

Again, some statements might be true based on individual usage and/or comparison.

Threads like this are inherently doomed and I think you know the reason why.

 

[Abazigal]

Do you realise that most who bought iphone are buying because they (thought) paying low end cheap price for it. $199 buy you an iphone. This is even cheaper than some China made phones. Iphone only has market share in places where subsidies are in place like us and japan. In low subsidies countries iphone has very little market share.

Around half of Apple profit came from US where apple together with the telcos rack up huge profit from consumers via their contract pricing.

I paid $199 for my Note 4 on 2 years contract at $35 monthly with 4GB data. How much you pay for your 6+?

So? What does iPhone pricing have to do with anything? So what if Apple enjoys higher market share in countries with high subsidies like US and Japan? That's simply a by-product of its business model. They target the segment of the market that appreciates nice things and a great user experience, and who appreciates these factors enough to be willing to spend to get it.

So what if I paid less or more for my iPhone? (For the record, I am using a 5s, and will upgrade the 6s next year, though I have not yet decided which model to get). I simply prefer the iPhone more, and at any rate, would rather pay a bit more for a device I enjoy to use, then spend less on a device which I won't enjoy using. Give me a Note4 for free and I still won't use it over my 5s, not least because it would break continuity with my other Apple products (inability to link iMessage to my phone number, no airplay, lack of access to iCloud, just to name a few).

If this really irritates you so much, then I suggest that you put your money where your mouth is. There are also tons of Android users who like to constantly laugh and deride iPhone users for reasons too numerous and ludicrous to list here. Did it ever strike you to speak out against them?