Blame Gizmodo?

[Mark Booth]

Funny, I was pondering the same thought yesterday afternoon. That Apple released the iPhone 4 earlier than they originally wanted to because of the Gizmodo leak.

Although I kind of doubt it, there's also this angle... If Apple eventually files a civil suit against Gizmodo, Apple might just find some financial benefit in claiming that Gizmodo made them show their hand early.

Since I can't stand Gizmodo or any of the Gawker Media sites (a dislike that existed for me well before they did the iPhone 4 exposé), it is fun to fantasize about Gawker getting taken to the cleaners by Apple.

Mark

 

[JakeyBoy]

Geez, can't even report good news lately. Apple didn't change anything, why would they? They got back their phone back in time, and could have waited til next Christmas if they wanted to. Apple may have rushed out with it, but that was their own decision, and knew exactly what they were doing. Apple doesn't care about the consumer anyway, they care about the money, and thats how its always been.

Note the price tag on everything they sell, they start at the rich and work their way down, making sure to hit everyone along the way, and some even twice or three times. I believe, even in retrospect, if Apple had the choice of Gizmodo having gotten ahold of that phone or not, they would want it to play out just as it did. More early adopters, and more money. And no one should be mad at Gizmodo for doing their job of gadgety-news-goodness.

 

[BeyondtheTech]

I think Gizmodo should pay for 1.7 million bumpers.

 

[emaja]

All conjecture.

No one outside of Apple knows when it was due to be released and I seriously doubt that Apple would do anything on a schedule other than their own.

 

[joshwithachance]

Apple doesn't give a **** about Gizmodo. I'm sure the iPhone 4 has been in production and ready for quite a while now.

 

[BiomaxDDS]

Now, we all know that we don't know how Apple operates, but you can be sure by now that they work around the clock and up until the last moments, sparing nothing in its path.

Well, along comes this incident with Gizmodo and they turn out to be the biggest monkey wrench in the last dozen years of their rebirth. By spilling trade secrets and new features, their breaking news did - without a doubt - make a material impact on current iPhone sales, wireless activations with AT&T, and caused a ripple effect that hit third-party accessory manufacturers, other wireless carriers, and other mobile product manufacturers.

Subsequent leaks cemented the more-anticipated release, and with iPhone 3GS sales showing initial signs of waning, while other Android devices begin to bombard the smartphone market, Apple may have had no choice but to quickly change their game, rushing their product to the market, with a hardware design that wasn't thoroughly tested, a color scheme that wasn't ready for mass production, their software not fully cooked for public consumption.

Third-party accessory manufacturers, this time around, had no advanced access to the device, whereby cases are coming into stores in drips and drabs, starting with crappy silicon product manufacturers that can make any shape in a day's notice, to case makers working off of repair parts, online photos, and drawing dimensions, often resulting in poor-quality and misaligned products. Most customers who were lucky enough to score an iPhone 4 had to go 'commando' without a case they would have normally got, thereby giving more chance to experience the growing 'reception' issue.

Steve Jobs, being the 'cool cat' he always is, fires off a bunch more personal emails to calm the public after a brewing storm of complaints with the lack of white iPhones, lack of coordination during preorders and reservations, reception and 'how to hold your iPhone' issues, backwards volume control buttons, lack of accessories - you name it - and with responses like "non-issue" and "stay tuned" lingering in the public's mind, the media begins to perceive him as arrogant and oblivious.

Had the Gizmodo leak not have happened, do you think we would have seen the iPhone 4 to originally release in mid-July, with both colors, with a properly cooked iOS, fully stocked with cases and accessories from Apple and all other brands?

you are a genius

 

[Despacio]

I think it's a silly idea. The iPhone always comes out at the same time every year, I highly doubt Apple rushed it. Plus, the team at Apple who handles such disasters are not the same team who engineer and test the phone.