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Who's Behind the iPhone Badmouthing?

Z

zgh1999

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 27, 2007
277
0
There seems to be many articles badmouthing the iPhone even before its release.

Does anyone care to speculate the reasons for this? The articles seem to be a concerted, organized effort by some entity -- they seem too organized and planned for this to be random.

I am guessing Microsoft. What do you think?
 
bill-gates-mugshot.jpg
 
There are also a lot of posts praising the iPhone. Are they because of an organized effort too?
 
eh this is normal. As you get closer to launch and the fanboyism increases there usually is a proportional increase in badmouthers and trolls. My advice is to just ignore em. Its their intent to annoy. Of course there is a difference between honest misgivings and people trying to just annoy so don't write every single negative post off either.
 
The thing is that much of the criticism may be constructive and justified, in which case we shouldn't have a problem with it. Very few people have got their hands on an iPhone yet, so most of what we read are just speculative opinions.
 
Ahhhhhhh, the Russians are coming!! The Russians are coming!!!!!!!:eek:

Seriously though, people have their own opinions, and with 8 billion people out there, not everyone's going to like the iPhone. Stop your conspiracy theory search.
 
killerrobot said:
Ahhhhhhh, the Russians are coming!! The Russians are coming!!!!!!!:eek:

Seriously though, people have their own opinions, and with 8 billion people out there, not everyone's going to like the iPhone. Stop your conspiracy theory search.
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Not that I think there is some large conspiracy, but if you don't think that 95% of news is repurposed press releases and otherwise lobbied information, think again. Newspapers are lazy, and an incredible amount of their "news" is delivered to them. The parallels between press releases and "news items" are downright scary.
 
netdog said:
Not that I think there is some large conspiracy, but if you don't think that 95% of news is repurposed press releases and otherwise lobbied information, think again. Newspapers are lazy, and an incredible amount of their "news" is delivered to them. The parallels between press releases and "news items" are downright scary.
Click to expand...

I 100% agree, but I'm saying there's as much good press as bad press out there from what I see. I guess it all depends on the source.

If I were Apple I'd be thrilled. Even the bad publicity is going to make people google iPhone and learn more about it. "There is no such thing as bad publicity." Maybe it's Apple spreading all the bad rumors???? Eh?
 
Yes, for once I actually think there IS a "conspiracy"--in certain quarters.

Except the "c"-word implies something unusual, and this isn't. Look at all the security-scare articles (some Mac-related) that come from sites owned by Symantec if you dig through the fine print. Look at all the fake grassroots support Microsoft pays for again and again. These things happen. Money has huge power over truth, in everything from blog posts to world news reporting.

And look at this:
http://2aday.wordpress.com/2007/06/19/zdnet-really-really-really-hates-apple-the-iphone/

In the past week--with NO new real hands-on iPhone info--there have been 2 positive ZDnet blogger stories about the iPhone, 2 neutral stories... and almost 60 negative! A similar pattern can be seen with other Apple products. Not on every site, but surely on some--like ZD.

Some force other than journalistic integrity is at work, I agree.

Is there as much good press as bad press out there? Maybe. Certainly there's a lot of good press. But in certain quarters there's evidence for a concerted, organized effort as the OP suggested. And SHOULD there be equal amounts of good and bad press? No--there should be honest reporting, which will come out mostly good for some topics, mostly bad for others.

Wherever the money and/or pressure is coming from, it WILL put a dent in iPhone interest. But I suspect that demand will still exceed supply for a very long time :p During which time the iPhone will keep improving, gaining new models, and dropping in price.

It's no wonder some companies are afraid.
 
It would seem to me that the press and public relations departments at Nokia, Sony, LG, Samsung, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile (to name just a few) would have the greatest interest in persuading their familiar friends in the press that cover cellular technologies that perhaps the iPhone isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

Of course, if you are one of those parties and do a lot of ad placement with any particular media outlet, all the better.

It isn't a conspiracy. It's how the press works. It actually isn't dissimilar to Congress.

For Fanboyz, perhaps Mossberg provides an example that can illuminate this process for you.
 
So you're convinced that Mossberg (and his employer the WSJ), who contrary to what gets parroted often criticizes Apple products, is taking money and/or instructions from Apple under the table? :D His reputation is worth so little, and he needs extra cash so badly? :p

The "Mossberg is a fraud" bandwagon is a fun one, but unsupported by the evidence. I wouldn't put his print column in the same category as ZDNet blogs.
 
I would say a majority of "the common person" thinks the iPhone is "neat". That doesn't mean they are going to get one but these are the common people. They don't care about specs and what not. In their head it's a cell phone and iPod combo. That's it.

These people will not read another article that says, "The iPhone is neat!". They will however read an article that says, "You shouldn't buy an iPhone and here's why!" or "I have an iPhone and it talks to aliens!"

Most of the negative articles are purely to sell magazines, newspapers, ads... this doesn't mean that all of the negative articles are incorrect. It's just that's what the majority of them are there for.
 
Oh, absolutely. There is some serious fear in the tech world over billions in losses from potential iPhone sales. And if people here don't think that many corporations will not utilize the internet influence to shape the issue, you are either very young or very simple.

Funny how corporations such as Microsoft will actually pay writers to do this, using "PayToPost™" or whatever it is. I would think that good products don't require you bash the competition for years and spending tens of millions of dollars to so so, but maybe I'm too used to Apple innovation that simply does not require it.

This is not only both issues being heard. This is paid bloggers to post here, in mainstream articles, and in magazines that shape content by their ad clients, basically everywhere is this embedded influence. But hey, it'll pay the bills for these writers.

:D
 
You seriously think a group has organized an attack on the iPhone? You need to turn down the Apple fanboyism then.
 
Eric1285 said:
You seriously think a group has organized an attack on the iPhone? You need to turn down the Apple fanboyism then.
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Huh? You didn't hear about the vast conspiracy by Motorola, Microsoft, Verizon, T-Mobile, HTC, Sprint, Samsung, Danger, Qualcomm, RIM, Palm, Alltel, Sony Ericsson and Nokia to take down the iPhone with bad reviews on the internets? :rolleyes:
 
Eric1285 said:
You seriously think a group has organized an attack on the iPhone? You need to turn down the Apple fanboyism then.
Click to expand...

You think there are NO companies making any efforts against the iPhone?

Toss around the buzzword insults all you like, you'll need more logic to convince me :)

As I said, I only see such efforts in certain quarters. But such things HAVE happened in the past--fact, not speculation--and assuming they can't happen now is a little... zealous :p

There are two extremes: "vast conspiracy" and "no competitors doing anything to influence any media." I suggest staying away from believing too hard in those extremes :)

60 vs. 2 sounds like a bit much for pure trolling. They'd get MORE ad views with a few more positives in the mix.

And no, Apple's not immune from putting pressure, such as regarding who they invite to press events. That doesn't make ZDnet's record this week free of suspicion.
 
The iPhone is amazing in many aspects, but it's lacking in many as well.

Different people need different features; some are perfectly content with the iPhone's current offerings, but others may need features that the iPhone doesn't currently offer.

This leads to some very positive reviews and some very negative reviews as well.

It all depends on your perspective.
 
SilentPanda said:
These people will not read another article that says, "The iPhone is neat!". They will however read an article that says, "You shouldn't buy an iPhone and here's why!" or "I have an iPhone and it talks to aliens!"
Click to expand...

Would everyone forget the "out to get the iPhone" conspiracy. There's more important things to discuss -- The iPhone talks to aliens!!!:eek: (looks around) I knew Apple was getting their technology from someone.:rolleyes:

I do understand the 60 vs 2 argument. A little one-sided. But also, I haven't heard anything bad from Apple or AT&T:p There are a lot who would love to see it fail for sure because the iPhone might actually take up some significant market share -- but by the time that's about to happen who's to say someone doesn't one them up. True it's all the unknown time in between that scares them though.
 
EricNau said:
The iPhone is amazing in many aspects, but it's lacking in many as well.

Different people need different features; some are perfectly content with the iPhone's current offerings, but others may need features that the iPhone doesn't currently offer.

This leads to some very positive reviews and some very negative reviews as well.

It all depends on your perspective.
Click to expand...


You're not allowed to bash the iPhone though. Didn't you get the memo? ;) :D
 
The negative news articles about the iPhone seem too coordinated to be random criticisms.

I really suspect some systemic forces are at work here against Apple.
 
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