Fruit-themed toymaker Apple might not be able to beat
anyone to the punch on technology but is instead simply better at manipulating
the media than its rivals.
Mac Observer managed to corner a former Apple marketing man and
discovered a tale which shows the US press in such a bad light it is a wonder
that they don't hand in their press cards and join Jobs' Mob. Last week the Wall Street Journal said that Jobs' Mob was
set to release a $1,000 tablet in March. While it was similar to every piece of
speculation that has been around about this tablet for the last two years, it
quoted a senior Apple source.
According a former marketing brains behind Jobs' Mob John
Martellaro said the story had all the hallmarks of a controlled leak. He said
that he had done something similar in the past. What would happen is that a senior company executive
would ask him to release specific information to a “trusted person” at a major
media outlet. Martellaro would "idly mention" the information
in a telephone conversation, and to suggest to a reporter that publishing it
would be "nice." E-mail correspondence was not allowed.
If there's ever any dispute about what transpired,
there's no paper trail to contradict either party's version of the story. Both
Apple and the publication are protected. Instead of the story going to the newspaper's top technology hack it would go to an underling to prevent him being made to look
stupid. The story was leaked late Monday, after the stock market closed, so no
one could suggest there was an attempt to manipulate Wall Street. Martellaro said that Apple leaked stories in this way to
“to light a fire under a recalcitrant partner”, to float the idea of a $1,000
price point, to panic or confuse a potential competitor, or to get analysts and
observer expectations to make sure the right kind and number of people show up
at an event.
The upshot of this is that while Apple rumours on its
tablet get a lot of traction, rivals offering identical or cheaper products are
ignored. Microsoft's Steve Ballmer showed a tablet to CES
yesterday and the media largely ignored it. The tablet has what is believed to
have the same functionality of the Apple machine but had been kept under wraps
by Vole.
In fact the media actually went as far as comparing the
product to Apple's bit of vapourware which no one has officially seen. Generally the feeling was that while there is a media
storm over the Apple tablet there is sod all being written about the technology
itself. If another company produces one which has identical
functionality it is dismissed as “just another tablet”. Yet in a few weeks when
Apple announces its gizmo the American press will be there applauding with the
riff raff.
Expectations have been so manipulated that it is
impossible to see the technology from the hype. What is alarming is that it is
press, often cynical at similar manipulations from politicians, which is
supposed to help consumers navigate their way through such manipulations. With Apple the masters of media hype and spin, it has
turned every media outlet into a marketing employee. It is not surprising that
Apple is able to hawk over priced PCs on an ignorant public many of whom think
they have a good deal.