Lyons: The Media's Rotten Reporting on Apple | Newsweek Daniel Lyons | Techtonic Shifts

This is full of contradictions.

When Apple was beleaguered, all the fans cried that the media were unfair to Apple. Now it???s successful, and its enemies say the media are propping it up. But I don???t see it. When the ipod came out, there were innumerable articles predicting its demise in the face of more open systems: ???It???ll lose just like the mac did???, they wrote over and over. Same thing when the iphone came out. And the press have never stopped writing about how Apple products are overpriced, even though direct comparisons often contradict them. Apple has plenty of naysayers in the press, including Dvorak, you, and plenty of others. If you feel ignored, maybe there???s a reason: people like what they buy from Apple.

What would be a reason for a media conspiracy either for or against Apple? The media is a business, and they write what people want to read. In the final analysis, it???s what a company does that determines its treatment by the press, and Apple has been getting things right lately. If it???s so easy ??? set prices too high, be secretive, seduce reporters ??? how is it so many tech companies fail? You of all people should be able to make billions acting just like Jobs, winning over the gullible media hacks, and selling snake oil to the public.

You (and more explicitly some commenters) complain about the hero worship of Jobs in one breath, and then worship him yourself by demanding his daily stool samples, because he is the hero of Apple.

You claim his illness is obvious to anyone with a pulse, and then complain that investors are being swindled because they don???t know that he???s sick. Jobs brush with death is well known; anyone who invests in Apple (including me) does it with open eyes. To my mind, investors have no more right to more detailed information about his prospects (if they are even known to anyone) than we have to detailed information about their future product plans (which also affect the stock prospects).

You blame the media for phony Apple press, and then write the phoniest Palm Pre review imagineable.

I think you just get far too invested in one technological ideology or another, and lose all contact with reality. The Ann Coulter of technology.

1.)It's true you called that spade for what he was, it could have been done with a little less snark. But the CNBC stooge's feigned outrage was definitely the most public case of, "Hamina, hamina, hamina!", since The Great One waltzed across the Kinescopic stage. His reaction to you is right up there with Claude Rains immortal line from Casablanca, "I'm shocked! Shocked that gambling is going on in these premises!" ("Your winnings, sir", Oh, er, uh, thank you!")
2.)A link to a layman's guide to Steve Job's previous illness (www.slate.com/id/2209408/). Personally, from my Apple sources (maybe I'm misinformed, too), Job's is suffering from ulcerative colitis and had been ignoring symptoms until six to eight weeks ago. He'll be fine enough for public appearances in six months, but he's not so sick he's going to pass up his seat on the Disney board.

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Posted By: kewlf @ 02/13/2009 4:01:52 AM

I love your crisp, if necessary unpolite way of telling the truth. It's refreshing. Apart from the hardware aspect Apple is a fashion brand for men like Prada for girls - ever tried to argue with your wife about the priceworthiness of her new handbag?
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Posted By: samuel.black @ 01/27/2009 5:46:58 PM

This is full of contradictions.

When Apple was beleaguered, all the fans cried that the media were unfair to Apple. Now it???s successful, and its enemies say the media are propping it up. But I don???t see it. When the ipod came out, there were innumerable articles predicting its demise in the face of more open systems: ???It???ll lose just like the mac did???, they wrote over and over. Same thing when the iphone came out. And the press have never stopped writing about how Apple products are overpriced, even though direct comparisons often contradict them. Apple has plenty of naysayers in the press, including Dvorak, you, and plenty of others. If you feel ignored, maybe there???s a reason: people like what they buy from Apple.

What would be a reason for a media conspiracy either for or against Apple? The media is a business, and they write what people want to read. In the final analysis, it???s what a company does that determines its treatment by the press, and Apple has been getting things right lately. If it???s so easy ??? set prices too high, be secretive, seduce reporters ??? how is it so many tech companies fail? You of all people should be able to make billions acting just like Jobs, winning over the gullible media hacks, and selling snake oil to the public.

You (and more explicitly some commenters) complain about the hero worship of Jobs in one breath, and then worship him yourself by demanding his daily stool samples, because he is the hero of Apple.

You claim his illness is obvious to anyone with a pulse, and then complain that investors are being swindled because they don???t know that he???s sick. Jobs brush with death is well known; anyone who invests in Apple (including me) does it with open eyes. To my mind, investors have no more right to more detailed information about his prospects (if they are even known to anyone) than we have to detailed information about their future product plans (which also affect the stock prospects).

You blame the media for phony Apple press, and then write the phoniest Palm Pre review imagineable.

I think you just get far too invested in one technological ideology or another, and lose all contact with reality. The Ann Coulter of technology.
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Posted By: lastangelman @ 01/22/2009 7:09:34 AM

1.)It's true you called that spade for what he was, it could have been done with a little less snark. But the CNBC stooge's feigned outrage was definitely the most public case of, "Hamina, hamina, hamina!", since The Great One waltzed across the Kinescopic stage. His reaction to you is right up there with Claude Rains immortal line from Casablanca, "I'm shocked! Shocked that gambling is going on in these premises!" ("Your winnings, sir", Oh, er, uh, thank you!")
2.)A link to a layman's guide to Steve Job's previous illness (www.slate.com/id/2209408/). Personally, from my Apple sources (maybe I'm misinformed, too), Job's is suffering from ulcerative colitis and had been ignoring symptoms until six to eight weeks ago. He'll be fine enough for public appearances in six months, but he's not so sick he's going to pass up his seat on the Disney board.