By now you’ve all heard reports that the iPhone 4 has a “terrible design flaw” that makes it useless for calls once you pick it up. Well, ok, I’m exaggerating a bit but you’d be forgiven for thinking that with the way this story has spread like wild fire. Now, I don’t doubt that some people are having an issue with this, but I’m amazed at the way this story was reported and the way it was picked up by the mainstream news media. First of all, Gizmodo were pushing this big time on Thursday, along with any other story they could find to paint the iPhone in a bad light (including, surprise surprise, you drop it and it breaks). Big surprise. From there other blogs started picking up on it and then it reached the mainstream media. What amazes me about this is that, first of all, most of the people reviewing the phone never noticed an issue with it and that most reviewers had noticed improved reception.
Secondly, as has already been pointed out, the same thing happens to existing phones. When Apple said this in their email they were set upon by bloggers for being dismissive of the “fatal design flaw” but they’re telling the truth. I tried it with my iPhone 3G and it does the exact same thing. Hold it in the bottom left corner and the signal drops. I’ve had my phone for over 2 years and I never noticed this issue until someone pointed it out and I tried to replicate it. But what I find really telling about the reporting on this is that virtually none of the mainstream media reports into this did any research or looked even remotely into the issue. They just reported on the Gizmodo story coupled with a few anecdotes from viewers or readers who were having reception issues. I’m not trying to down play the problems of those who are having problems, what I’m annoyed about is the complete and utter lack of perspective. For a start, a little bit of research would have found out that the Nexus one had the exact same issue when it was launched. But where was the outrage there? Where was the massive controversy about the Nexus being “flawed”? Why wasn’t this pushed as the main story by Gizmodo for several days? It certainly never reached the mainstream media, and yet according to the people experiencing the issue, it’s pretty much the same.
The problem is now that regardless of the extent of the reception issue, it will forever be seen as the “design flaw” of the iPhone. Anyone who tries to point out that other phones do in fact experience this are immediately branded as fanboys. It’s amazing how people are so eager to buy any controversy that involves Apple that they loose all sense of reason or balance. It’s gotten so bad lately that I’ve almost given up blogging about Apple and the mac, two subjects close to my heart. It seems that people are only interested in expressing phoney outrage at some inconsequential thing Apple does and creating giant controversies out of insignificant issues (I’m not talking about the iPhone 4 reception issue here before people start giving out about that I’m saying it’s an insignificant issue – although for many people apparently it is). It’s amazing to me how there has developed this complete disconnect between the impression you get about Apple from reading technology sites and publications, and the reality on the ground. The tech press (particularly tech blogs*) has lately been overwhelmingly negative about the Cupertino company, and yet contrast that with hundreds of thousands of people queuing for an iPhone 4. We’re given the impression that the iPhone is a terrible platform for developers and that its atrocious policies mean developers are abandoning it in droves for Android, and yet contrast that with WWDC selling out in 8 days.
I think the root of the problem, or at least part of it is the way a story spreads. It often starts on a blog when someone publishes their opinion on something that Apple has done. The problem with a lot of blogs though (and I’m talking big publications who call themselves blogs, not the average independent blogger) is that they often report opinion as fact. This “fact” then gets picked up and reported on as news and hey presto, instant controversy. A perfect example is the so called controversy of the iPhone 4′s retina display. Someone found a so called “expert” from some display firm that no one had ever heard of before this who disputed Apple’s claims about the retina display. They expressed that in their opinion Apple was incorrect. However it wasn’t reported that way. It was reported that Apple was misleading customers. This simple act of turning an opinion into a fact quickly spread across the web and became the latest in a series of “controversies” to engulf Apple. A few days later though many more “experts” chimed in with their views on the matter. Most defending Apple’s position. In the end a some scientist from NASA claimed that Apple’s statements about the retina display were in fact true. Yet you still hear grumblings on the web about how Apple are misleading customers about this.
Another problem with many of these stories is the fact that many bloggers* seem to be missing the word “allegedly” from their vocabulary. Take the infamous Gizmodo and the iPhone prototype story. They happily took the word of some random guy that he just found the phone and that everything was on the up and up with his story. If a real newspaper had run that story (and they wouldn’t) they would have said that the phone was “allegedly” found in a bar. And yet as this story spread there were, and still are many, people who happily side with Gizmodo and the random guy (who in the light of the information released by the police seems somewhat shady) and believe their version of events verbatim, even over the evidence released by the police. They prefer to believe the conspiracy about Apple rather than the far more down to earth and realistic version of what probably happened. The thing is, they did have a legitimate story there and they could have handled it very differently. The real headline should have been “Guy claims to have iPhone prototype and is attempting to sell it”. They could have cooperated with the police to recover the phone and that should have been the story, not, look at us, we one upped Apple. The real story should have been outing the guy who was trying to pawn it off not the poor engineer who allegedly lost it.
I could go on and on with examples of how the technology press has taken something innocuous about Apple and blown it out of all proportion. I guess at the heart of it all is a desire to see something (in this case Apple) successful humiliated in the same way that tabloid and celebrity gossip rags earn a roaring trade. The tech press has become the silicon valley equivalent of hello with certain bloggers becoming the paparazzi that camp out outside some starlet’s home going through her garbage in the hope of finding some incriminating pair of panties or something. In the real world Apple’s customers (the vast majority of which don’t read technology websites or magazines) continue to buy Apple’s products at unprecedented rates and continue to be enamoured with the consumer electronics maker, all the while tech pundits are desperately trying to get the perfect shot of Apple with it’s knickers down.
(* before some bloggers start giving out that I’m unfairly targeting them, I’m not. I’m talking about the so called “blogs” that are really just online magazines calling themselves blogs because it allows them to get away with far more than they would if they tried to be real magazines)
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Thank you, Thomas! If that isn’t the truth, I don’t know what is!
I’m so tired of the anti-Apple disinformation machine. I was APPALLED to see Jesus Diaz on NBC news last night saying that the iPhone 4 had a serious industrial design flaw. Truly unbiased reporting from the jilted ‘blog’ that is Gizmodo. I had no idea that Jesus was an industrial designer and expert on cell phone antenna design. Who knew?
Keep on blogging about Apple and Macs. We need someone like you with real insight and opinions to set the record straight.
At D8, Mr Jobs said that he feared we would become a nation of bloggers. Can you imagine that? It’s a frightening thought. The example from your blog and from David Parrott proves his point. Most people watching the news has no clue that Jesus Diaz is blogger and not a industrial engineer or designer in the field of antenna design or cell phone design. He’s a blogger form Gizmodo, the very same that leaked out the iPhone prototype, with complete disregard with the law.
I feel like creating a web site in which you “have” to be a “real” journalist to post news. A real journalist with a degree in journalism, believes in journalistic integrity and not headline hit whoring or yellow journalism.
Hopefully Apple sues Gizmodo into oblivion.
Think Secret is sorely missed. But Gizmodo is the worst of the worst, never checking facts, rushing to publish sensationalist garbage… I believe Apple will wait until the State of California prosecutes them for felony theft, or felony purchase of stolen goods, THEN Apple legal will probably begin their case against them for libel. Gizmodo is digging deeper into the hole.
I thank you Thomas Fitzgerald, for skillfully articulating what I have been screaming for days. I hope you don’t mind… I’m pasting your whole post everywhere (and linking to it too).
No problem. Link and post away !
Yes, THANK YOU!
)
Oh! So much on target! (Because it agrees with my views!
All the talk of “citizen journalism”. Yes, sometimes there IS good information. But so often the videos of – for example – “police brutality” are taken out of context. The aftermath, not the initial trigger of the event. (Just an example, I’m not trying to defend actual bad behavior.)
And when mainstream media blindly “report” this as “news” it really is dangerous ground.
Doctors must have strong education and licensing with ethical requirements to practice their work. So do attorneys, psychologists, architects, engineers etc. A “Journalist”? Just needs something to write on!
It’s (past) time for anyone who calls themselves a journalist to be required to have at least some specific education, licensing and rules of ethics. Only then would they have protection of journalists “shields”. “Bloggers” would/should not have these protections.
Nice post! Add to the stories you cited, the one about Apple making huge profits off sweat shop labor. Since when did individual suicides become international new? Nevermind the fact that many tech companies use Foxconn, or that the suicide rate in China is lower than that at Foxconn, or the fact that almost all the products we use in America today are produced by low paid labors in China. The story was all about Apple.
I’m convince the rest of the tech world is scared of Apple and will do anything to bring them down a few pegs. Including hiring people to comment of blogs and stir up the stories.
I’ve been thinking about it for awhile. It’s why I finally set up a domain of an idea I have. Blogging site for real journalist is what’s on my mind.
On a rather sensationalist story that Jesus Diaz posted, I criticized them, basically saying that they were quick to jump the gun again just to trash Apple. I was subsequently banned.
Thank you for providing a voice of reason, even if you’ll be labeled as a fanboy. Apparently simply liking Apple products for your own reasons means that you’re incapable of assimilating with the tech press and the blog-comment hordes, and you are “drinking the koolaid” – another term that I absolutely hate because of the connotation linking consumers of a particular product (in this case Apple) to Jim Jones.
I’m sending this out to everyone I know, and linking it whenever I see another person making ridiculous and baseless claims on a “blog.”
Well said. It’s a given that Apple has become a lightning rod in the tech world. Perhaps it’s the business model or the fact that it has become a leader in so many categories. Nevertheless, if you don’t like it, no one is forcing you to buy it.
I agree with your earlier posts about phony outrage. From my American perspective, it’s rather like watching the Tea Party movement -amorphous hostility and fear fanned by a few manipulators doing it for their own power and profit.
Good idea, lets stop people posting what they want on the internet. Maybe everyone should run their thoughts and idea through Apple (you know, like you have to with new apps) so Jobs and his crew can tell us what we can/can’t talk about (like sex/nudity, already removed because our pare… sorry Apple doesn’t think we should be able to on the iphone).
As for ‘this happens to other phones’ yes it does and those phone should be put up for shame too. Just because one person/company/phone does it doesn’t make it right, in fact for a company who makes one phone per year (at most) they really should have better quality control in place and fix the problem, not palm people off with ‘buy a bumper’ or ‘hold it a different way’.
BTW Thomas your a photographer, why should your technology blog have any more merit than someone elses?
Try reading what I wrote.
Here’s another classic example of what I was talking about – the media jumping on a story without fact checking: http://www.tuaw.com/2010/06/27/daily-mail-taken-in-by-fake-steve-jobs-tweet/
Thank you for a sane voice of reason in the otherwise morass the Internet is becoming.
“In the real world Apple’s customers (the vast majority of which don’t read technology websites or magazines) continue to buy Apple’s products at unprecedented rates and continue to be enamoured with the consumer electronics maker, all the while tech pundits are desperately trying to get the perfect shot of Apple with it’s knickers down.”
Im a consumer and Apple product junkie – that do read tech blogs, forums before deciding on a purchase and I can’t afford being blind sighted. There’s no such thing as being “anti Apple” as a consumer we have the freedom of choice – I don’t agree with your article because speaking against a companies products, pr-statements is part of who we are. Being too loyal towards a brand is just pure laziness – there’s no need to defend a company that today is even bigger than Microsoft, they are doing just fine thank you – fight for the little consumer, be more demanding, critical, open minded and you get better products or choose some of the competitions alternative.
“I don’t agree with your article because speaking against a companies products, pr-statements is part of who we are. Being too loyal towards a brand is just pure laziness”
But that’s not what this is about at all. I don’t have a problem with people expressing their opinions against Apple or any other company for that matter, so long as they express them as opinions. It’s when lazy writers take someone else’s opinion and treat it as a hard fact or as “evidence” that Apple or whatever company (and this affects more than apple) has done some heinous crime, when they haven’t – someone just expressed and opinion that they had. That’s what I have a problem with.
“Apple or whatever company (and this affects more than apple) has done some heinous crime, when they haven’t – someone just expressed and opinion that they had.”
Well it’s an obvious fact that tech blogs write topics that generates traffic – do me a favour and go visit Engadget you’ll see every Apple topic with 100+ comments on average no matter what they write. Speaking of facts btw And there are facts from a Danish professor who’s research in radio coverage and stated concerns regarding the outer antenna design – Nokia applied similar design in 2003 and they got kicked in the nuts for it in the media. If your article really was about questioning lazy writers the dilemma of “opinions vs facts” you should’ve picked a more credible example such as Nokia’s negative publicity in the US and Symbian OS an awsome feature complete platform with the common opinion among many us bloggers that it’s outdated or worse than Android or iOS (in fact these platforms sill play catchup in features – wifi tethering, hdmi, full HD recording, multitasking video chat etc) Apple wraps it all these “innovative” features in a compelling package.
Then again it’s not that interesting to talk about Nokia a non american Finnish company thats got a 40% global market share instead you chose Apple that guaranteed sells headlines and attracts readers – attracting traffic to your blog where you state your opinion like the writers you mention I can’t tell the difference between or you or them
I agree on the main issue here opinion vs facts on tech blogs. Ask yourself does it really matter when the only thing that matters are whats hot right now and what generates traffic?!
News gets updated in lightning speed, new opinions and facts emerge gets corrected and as fast forgotten.
“you chose Apple that guaranteed sells headlines and attracts readers – attracting traffic to your blog where you state your opinion like the writers you mention I can’t tell the difference between or you or them”
I write about Apple because I like the subject not because it generates hits. (and it doesn’t generate that many.) I make no bones about that – it’s right there in the description of the site. Don’t be so presumptuous.
I find your opinions fair and balanced. But it is funny how personal blogs like yours attract negative Apple comments like those from “consumer.” H/she is entitled to opine but you are right about the presumptive attitude of the comments.
I assume you’ll have a followup to the reception perception (sorry I couldn’t resist) after you’ve updated to iOS4.1?