Fascist-Dictator Jobs being the Worlds biggest A$$hole
as alwaysIt's been a busy day not only for Apple CEO Steve Jobs who appeared on stage with damage control guns blazing, but also for the journalists who follow the the Cupertino-based tech company's every move. Jobs made it very clear that he wasn't thrilled with the media coverage of the iPhone's reception issues. If you took the time to check out our live blog coverage of today's press conference, you'll know that the MacLife staff, as well as the staffers from our sister publication MacFormat, have come to a few of our own conclusions on this manner. Some positive, others not so much.
But what does the rest of the blogosphere have to say about Apple's response to Antenna-gate? We took the time to check on what our journalistic colleagues had to say via email, smoke signal, and good old-fashion research to see if Jobs' infamous Reality Distortion Field was able to woo the media into a state of satisfaction.
Darren Murphy of Engadget had this to say in a posting made shortly after the press conference concluded:
It's fairly obvious that the howls around the web for Apple to address this antenna issue has gotten underneath the skin of one Steve Jobs, and in a fashion that's very much unlike Apple (or AT&T, for that matter), the aforesaid CEO has actually handed out a bit of hard data surrounding dropped calls on the iPhone 4. According to Jobs, AT&T won't reveal the exact amount of call drops for competitive reasons, but they did manage to push out a meaningful delta. As of today, they've noticed that the "iPhone 4 drops less than one additional call per 100 than the 3GS." In other words, the iPhone 4 has actually been dropping more calls than the 3GS in the three weeks that the former has been on the market. Of course, Steve's also playing up the fact that just a fraction of a percent of all buyers have bothered to call in about their bout with dropped calls (and why would you, knowing there's no cure?), but it's still interesting to finally get some cold, hard facts on this disaster. Even if it's but a snippet."
Our friend Brian Lam, Editorial Director over at Gizmodo, took the time to write the MacLife staff and fill us in on what he took away from the morning's events:
"I'm happy Apple is addressing this issue. I'm still happy with my iPhone 4, but its important that Apple fixes the death spot problem in the long run with a more permanent solution than by giving away cases. Apple may be playing down the issue as coming from a vocal minority and some press, but I think today's decision to provide everyone with bumpers/cases shows that they believe several thousand people--probably some of their most knowledgable customers--is not something to ignore, and that the problem can affect everyone, if they understand it well enough to see it."
Of course, no event in the Apple universe would be complete without John Gruber of Daring Fireball taking a chance to get his two cents in:
"Jobs’s tone was very telling. And whatever you do, don’t get talked into a drinking game involving Jobs saying 'hard data'."
Chiming in on the press conference over at Cult of Mac, John Brownlee talked about what he felt was Job's attack on the media at large over their coverage of the issues iPhone 4 owners had been reporting:
"If one thing was crystal clear from Steve Jobs’ remarks during today’s iPhone 4 Antenna Press Conference, it was that he blamed the tech press for “overblowing” the iPhone 4’s reception issues, and was downright contemptuous of tech journalists as a whole... Even Steve’s parting shot was aimed at the credibility of the tech journalists. “Thanks for coming. I wish we could have done this [had the press conference] in the first 48 hours, but then you wouldn’t have had anything to write about.”
Brownlee was also quick to point a very significant point that Jobs, sermonizing as he was against the evils of tech journalists reporting on a large number of consumer complaints surrounding a tech product didn't both to mention: The high praise and kudos heaped upon Apple, and indeed, upon Jobs himself, each and every time the company introduces a new product or incremental upgrade to their line of products.
"I’m certainly not here to defend the press against Jobs’ accusations of sensationalism. He may be right: the iPhone 4 Antenna Issue is the Amy Winehouse of tech right now. On the sensationalism of the press, I’d argue that the job of the journalist is not to report the status quo, but to report the exceptional. Over the past three weeks, the iPhone 4’s antenna issues have been an exceptional problem, and so we’ve covered it extensively. But you know what else is exceptional? Apple and its products. And what Jobs has conveniently forgotten is that ever since he returned to Apple back in 1997, the tech press has collectively been the tireless advocate of both, and written about Apple’s excellence as the rule — not the exception — with every year that has passed."
So, now you've had an opportunity to view the video of the press conference, follow along with our live blog of this morning's event, and see what journalists from other news sources have to say--what's your opinion on the matter?
