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Are Engadget and Gizmodo selling out to Apple???

T

TheShagler

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 20, 2009
15
0
You may not have noticed it, but something very bad has happened today in the world of Tech Reporting.

The blogs that we turn to and expect to be our voice in the industry sold out today to Apple…. Now many believe that blogs like Gizmodo and Engadget have been in the pocket of major Tech companies like Apple and Microsoft for many years, but I naively believed otherwise. Today it became painfully clear that they are…

Early today the Apple store website went down, not overly earth shattering, but something that causes hardcore Apple fans to get pretty excited about the possibility of new products. Me being a hard core Apple fan I was pump'd! As to be expected, the blogs started pumping excitement about possible new products; even going as far to “leak” part numbers and limited product descriptions. Making it seem like they had no idea what apple was planning.

At this point it felt like business as usual for me, my excitement was starting to build in anticipation of some cool new shinny Apple products. And then something very strange happened……

Before I even had a chance to see the new products on Apples website both Engadget and Gizmodo had first impression reviews, unboxing photos, and thoroughly typed up descriptions of the new products…

I felt like a young kid walking in on his parents putting presents under the Christmas tree and learning the painful truth about Santa Clauses nonexistence….

Clear as day I could tell that both Engadget and Gizmodo had total knowledge of what Apple was planning and feigned their own excitement and lack knowledge for what Apple had planned. With full knowledge of what Apple had planned they pumped up our excitement and fake “leaked” information to us…

As companies look for new and creative ways to advertise to us we the consumer need to be very careful who we trust. I thought I could trust Gizmodo and Engadget.. Today they showed me I could not. They will sacrifice their own journalistic integrity for inside information, and likely money, from the large tech companies they are expected to keep honest…
Engadget and Gizmodo were not our ally today… they were just another tool in Apples bag of marketing tricks…

Please talk about this… It is very important!!!!

If any one else noticed this, and judging by the comments on both Engadget and Gizmodo, people did... Please say something and build awareness about this....

Regards,
Untrusting tech fan...
 
how do you know they didnt have guys waiting at the apple store in case new items came out... If i worked for engadget and was gonna get to buy something without paying for it myself id be there once it opened as well... they may not have known ahead of time, they may have just bought it the second they could...
 
lol wat

who cares? They want the hits and Apple wants people to know about their products. Business Week obviously knew too.
 
I am not sure that I get your point. Early release of hardware to selected individuals / media outlets for an embargoed review released only at a specific time is common practice, and I would have trouble seeing that this is "selling out".

Or do you mean that the same individuals conducting the embargoed review also disingenuously speculated / added to the hype? Do you have evidence of this?
 
Ever hear of a Non-Disclosure Agreement? I'm sure they got their computers after signing a NDA. Take off the tinfoil hat and go out and get some air.
 
Wait, you thought that big tech sites like Gizmodo and Engadget were free from being influenced by large tech companies like Apple and Microsoft? You don't think Apple knows how to make use of sites with such large online presences? How naive.

I'm sure Apple arranged for them to get review machines but made them sign 14 different agreements to not publish details (or perhaps even open them) until "it was time".
 
Just think about it....

Acting like you know nothing… Building Hype…. And then having Pictures, Reviews, and Positive comments moments after the product is announced is suspect, and a problem.

The Key to this problem is around the Hype that these blogs create.

Hype = Product sales.

We expect the blogs to be unbiased and to report the news, not a media for selling products to us.
 
Darth.Titan said:
Wait, you thought that big tech sites like Gizmodo and Engadget were free from being influenced by large tech companies like Apple and Microsoft? You don't think Apple knows how to make use of sites with such large online presences? How naive.

I'm sure Apple arranged for them to get review machines but made them sign 14 different agreements to not publish details (or perhaps even open them) until "it was time".
Click to expand...

I will not disagree with you calling me "naive". Did I think they did this.. Yes. But I did not think it was so blatant.
 
This has the potential to be bigger than the Moon Landing, JFK, and the Loch Ness monster combined. Good luck in your quest for the truth, I hope my grandkids can watch it on Discovery some day.
 
I'm sure Engadget and Gizmodo have received advance Apple products many times in the past. Gizmodo even posted a photo of a Apple packing crate containing an embargoed product before an update.

It's not a big issue.
 
I hate the internet

thomanjones said:
This has the potential to be bigger than the Moon Landing, JFK, and the Loch Ness monster combined. Good luck in your quest for the truth, I hope my grandkids can watch it on Discovery some day.
Click to expand...

I have to admit. This comment is pretty funny.

Well its clear to me that no one cares about this. I thought people would judging by the comments on Giz and Engadget, but if I can’t even convince a bunch of Apple Fan on an Apple Form its game over for this cause.

This wasn’t a tinfoil hat conspiracy post. I was trying to point out how Companies are getting very tricky with their advertising channels and we, consumers, need to be aware, and careful.
 
TheShagler said:
I have to admit. This comment is pretty funny.

Well its clear to me that no one cares about this. I thought people would judging by the comments on Giz and Engadget, but if I can’t even convince a bunch of Apple Fan on an Apple Form its game over for this cause.

This wasn’t a tinfoil hat conspiracy post. I was trying to point out how Companies are getting very tricky with their advertising channels and we, consumers, need to be aware, and careful.
Click to expand...

Engadget and Gizmodo sign NDA agreements when they get products ahead of time. Just like when they got the new Canon camera last night. It's not as if they are claiming to be a blog run by some random tech fan. The former is owned by AOL/Time Warner.
 
thegoldenmackid said:
Engadget and Gizmodo sign NDA agreements when they get products ahead of time. Just like when they got the new Canon camera last night. It's not as if they are claiming to be a blog run by some random tech fan. The former is owned by AOL/Time Warner.
Click to expand...

I understand NDA's and that they get products ahead of time.

Thats fine if they telllll us they know something but cant share. Prentending that they know nothing, creating TONS of hype, and then plastering reiviews that clearly took more time then seconds to write seems a little suspect to me.

This whole thing becomes a problem when its clear that they are apart of the Apple hype machine, and it seems like they are getting paid to do it.
 
TheShagler said:
I understand NDA's and that they get products ahead of time.

Thats fine if they telllll us they know something but cant share. Prentending that they know nothing, creating TONS of hype, and then plastering reiviews that clearly took more time then seconds to write seems a little suspect to me.

This whole thing becomes a problem when its clear that they are apart of the Apple hype machine, and it seems like they are getting paid to do it.
Click to expand...

When did they say, "we know nothing." MacRumors has to be the center of the Apple hype machine, it is after all, MacRumors.
 
TheShagler said:
I have to admit. This comment is pretty funny.

Well its clear to me that no one cares about this. I thought people would judging by the comments on Giz and Engadget, but if I can’t even convince a bunch of Apple Fan on an Apple Form its game over for this cause.

This wasn’t a tinfoil hat conspiracy post. I was trying to point out how Companies are getting very tricky with their advertising channels and we, consumers, need to be aware, and careful.
Click to expand...

Careful of what? Did a major tech company kick your dog or something? :rolleyes:
 
I just don't get what you think the harm is? Are BLOGS (they are friggin blogs for christs sake, not exactly the epitome of journalistic ventures) somehow obliged to pass you information the second they get them when they are most likely bound by law not to?
 
you registered on this site, just to say this? You sign up on a microsoft forum as well? I am sure Giz and EnGadget get hands on a few days before hand. Then when Apple announces them, they know there are many more people that read tech blog sites like EnGadget and Gizmodo to get the info and hype out. Why are you worried? You think this is new?

Same thing goes for video game reviews and car reviews, appliances, etc, so on and so forth.
 
I think you guys are missing the original poster's point... and I do think he has one. He's not criticizing their acceptance of NDA's products perse...

but it would be strange that if the sites did have full knowledge of these products over the past few days, then it's weird for them to be speculating and acting like they didn't know anything when reporting about the last minute rumors.

That said, if I had to guess based on the writeups, they got them this morning.

arn
 
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