Polls say 1 in 5 in the US plan to get the new iPhone.
Its release certainly is news if that is the case.
Apple’s Free Ride: Why Journalists Treat Product Launches Like News
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Re: Apple’s Free Ride: Why Journalists Treat Product Launches Like News
#22It's heartening to see that the HN responses echo my sentiment. Also..
"Democrats or Republicans look too rehearsed on stage? Let’s pounce. Apple? Let’s sweep it under the rug."
Look too rehearsed? When presenting a demo to a client, managing an "Apple like" demo is the holy grail. Although, you could expect a political candidate to partly be "too rehearsed" and still be his real self (or his other pretend self) on stage.
Re: Apple’s Free Ride: Why Journalists Treat Product Launches Like News
#23I'm deeply suspicious of this article, because it could have been written and published any time over the past several years, but Holiday chose today. My cynical impression is that he's just riding the wave of iPhone news and using a sensational headline to drive traffic. Oh, and what's this?
"Ryan Holiday is the bestselling author of Trust Me I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator and a PR strategist for brands and writers."
It seems ironic to me that someone would lambast Apple for getting a free ride in the media, only to end the article with an advertisement of his own.
Re: Apple’s Free Ride: Why Journalists Treat Product Launches Like News
#24The advertising buys are misleading, as Apple doesn't include (or directly disclose afaik) the money spent on their paid placements, which anyone who watches western media knows is quite substantial.
I think that only proves my point more: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-10/apple-the-ot...
Re: Apple’s Free Ride: Why Journalists Treat Product Launches Like News
#25Good for a company if they don't need to spend in advertising. For me, in an ideal world word of mouth if the product is good should be enough. Apple master the process of creating expectations and surprising people, in their staged announcements, good for them. Why the hate? envy?
It's not hate. If I ran Apple, I'd be doing the same thing. But JOURNALISTS are not supposed to carry water for business--let alone a multi-billion dollar corporation that could more than afford to get these messages out another way. What is Apple announcing at these events? New products they are selling. That's "news" under only the saddest of definitions.*
There are some great books written about this, namely Daniel Boorstin's The Image http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_event
Re: Apple’s Free Ride: Why Journalists Treat Product Launches Like News
#26Polls say 1 in 5 in the US plan to get the new iPhone. Its release certainly is news if that is the case.
True, but the article makes the point that the causality doesn't go only one way.
Re: Apple’s Free Ride: Why Journalists Treat Product Launches Like News
#27The advertising buys are misleading, as Apple doesn't include (or directly disclose afaik) the money spent on their paid placements, which anyone who watches western media knows is quite substantial.
Also, they're spending close to half of what Microsoft is spending, but they have a fraction of the products, and they don't advertise to nearly as many audiences.
Re: Apple’s Free Ride: Why Journalists Treat Product Launches Like News
#28This article is wrong. I am always interested in hearing about Apple's products because they are so incredibly good, and the new features often have a dramatic impact on my life. The 2007 iPhone introduction showed me what my future phone would look like. The latest LTE feature on iPhone 5? Awesome because it means I won't have to hunt around for wifi once it becomes widespread. To sum it up, people care about these…
If only AT&T could get lte outside of my cities airport I'd agree.
In addition, Apple doesn't release 8 products a year so their announcements are more notable in that regard.
Re: Apple’s Free Ride: Why Journalists Treat Product Launches Like News
#29The advertising buys are misleading, as Apple doesn't include (or directly disclose afaik) the money spent on their paid placements, which anyone who watches western media knows is quite substantial.
I think that only proves my point more: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-10/apple-the-ot...
Is that accurate that they never pay? I thought they refused to discuss it. I didn't mean to suggest that it refuted your point either way though, as I generally agree.
Re: Apple’s Free Ride: Why Journalists Treat Product Launches Like News
#30news corporations are just a proxy for what the public wants to know about. The news consumers (aka the market) dictate the type of news publishers report. Obviously we currently put a higher premium on covering apple launches and political conventions. If people did not want that, they wouldn't pay attention to those news outlets and subsequently those news outlets would either go under or change their coverage trends.