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Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

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11–20 of 342 posts

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#11
post #6

Lot of nitpicks and to be expected framing/number fudging by Steve, but straight up misquoting the Samsung rep was very odd. That had been widely corrected, so either Apple did not research their presentation (unlikely) or just knowingly lied (yuck).

There is something kind of funny about a quote going from "quite small" to "quite smooth" (referencing sales numbers - as in "the numbers have been quite smooth"). It reminds me of a kid cursing in front of his mother and then twisting the sounds to create another word after he realized it, if that makes any sense.

ESL was the real culprit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN_w0mcDayI

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#14
post #4

You see, Apple loves to talk about specs when it is in its best interest (speeds and feeds). Generalizing, You see, [companies] love to talk about [what] is in its best interest.

And thankfully, good journalists will call them out on it. I'd argue that's an important function of journalism, even.

That's fine, but the tone of this piece was surprise that Apple would use its own marketing event to make Apple look good. Calling them out on facts is good, but there's no need to tell me that Apple will selectively present features based on how good it sells.

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#15
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And thankfully, good journalists will call them out on it. I'd argue that's an important function of journalism, even.

That's fine, but the tone of this piece was surprise that Apple would use its own marketing event to make Apple look good. Calling them out on facts is good, but there's no need to tell me that Apple will selectively present features based on how good it sells.

Yes. The whole pretense that Steve Jobs' "reality distortion field" is somehow remarkable is one of the weirder and lazier tropes of tech journalism.

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#16
post #12

How much of an Jobs/Apple hater do you have to be before you include Nook and Kindle in the tablet market to argue that the iPad share is actually close to 50?

Quite a large one, I'd imagine. The Nook and Kindle are a pretty far cry from the iPad in terms of capability. To me it seems like it's a very close parallel to a smart phone vs. a feature phone.

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#17
Since when is it not okay for a company the emphasize the pluses over the competition and leave out what's not so good. This is common practice.

If you want a full comparison, you have to do it yourself or use independent tests. I always rely on my own tests, if possible.

Mr. Job's keynotes are rhetorically first class and most people can't wait to get hands on the products after they have seen the show. This is no reality distortion, this is perfect marketing.

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#18
post #12

How much of an Jobs/Apple hater do you have to be before you include Nook and Kindle in the tablet market to argue that the iPad share is actually close to 50?

Quite a large one, I'd imagine. The Nook and Kindle are a pretty far cry from the iPad in terms of capability. To me it seems like it's a very close parallel to a smart phone vs. a feature phone.

So you're saying the iPad has sold more than 90% of all devices that are like iPads? Seems verging on tautological to me.

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#19
post #8

Completely agree. I'm not exactly an apple fanboy, but I do love my iPad, and there isn't yet a competitor's device I'd want to replace it with (although I'm hoping BlackBerry's will change that). If he had come out and given all the ways that the iPad 2 is better than the iPad, I'd have been impressed. But spending half the time criticising competitors just came across as the kind of tacky tactic that really shouldn…

This has been happening for quite some time. One of the earnings call last year was more of Android-bashing than a talk about Apple's successes.

EDIT: I believe it was Steve doing the talk back then too.

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#20
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is something kind of funny about a quote going from "quite small" to "quite smooth" (referencing sales numbers - as in "the numbers have been quite smooth"). It reminds me of a kid cursing in front of his mother and then twisting the sounds to create another word after he realized it, if that makes any sense.

ESL was the real culprit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN_w0mcDayI

How did anyone get "small" from that? Sounded pretty clear to me. I'm a native English speaker, and do not speak or understand any other languages.
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