iPod CNBC trying to trash iPod

[iSaint]

Before they went to break, the CNBC anchor something like "why are there so many problems with the iPod? If you want to find out why you don't want to buy one, stay tuned." Then John Dvorak (I couldn't catch who he is with) does a twenty second bit saying they've had problems all along. THEN a stock analyst points out potential issues with Apple trademarking iPhone.

'tis the season to trash the competition!

If I see links, I'll post. This all happened in five minutes on CNBC.

 

[iMeowbot]

That's on because the WSJ ran an article about the growing iPod repair industry.

[ edit: link to the article that prompted the CNBC segment ]

 

[rjphoto]

Good catch

Oh, by the way, Happy Birthday...

Keep us informed. This could be funny.

 

[Sun Baked]

When you are number one, all you are is a piñata to the rest of the world.

 

[Rojo]

This kind of thing happens whenever ANYthing gets too popular, whether it's justified or not. For what it's worth, the iPod is a truly amazing device, and STILL the best of its kind. But if there's ever even the slightest problem with it, it will be over-scrutinized and blasted all over the place -- because that's what the "news" loves to do. Anything for a story. And since just about everyone has an iPod, they know anything with iPod in the headline is going to have people paying attention and tuning in...

It's really quite shameless, actually.

 

[princealfie]

CNBC will be banned. The revolution will not be televised.

 

[bigandy]

John Dvorak is a tool. A complete tool.

And this quote could have applied to anything.

"why are there so many problems with cars?"

"why are there so many problems with george bush?"

"why are there so many problems with cameras?"

and so on.

bloody 'news' networks

 

[iSaint]

That's on because the WSJ ran an article about the growing iPod repair industry.

[ edit: link to the article that prompted the CNBC segment ]

Thanks for the link. I caught the WSJ part when I was walking out the door.

Growing iPod repair industry. Hmmm, maybe that's because THE IPOD INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE IS GROWING DUE TO THE MILLIONS OF IPODS SOLD! Sorry for yelling. Get a grip MSNBC. Leno, now this...does MS own the WSJ?

Oh, by the way, Happy Birthday...

Keep us informed. This could be funny.

Thanks for the birthday wishes!

 

[bousozoku]

CNBC will be banned. The revolution will not be televised.

CNBC is generally smart about what they air and they certainly have given Walt Mossberg enough time to make the Microsoft lovers sick, so it evens out. The related MSN website has even calmed its anti-Apple focus. They often ran anti-Apple articles attached to the stock details and those have been gone for a while and only real news from reliable sources is posted.

I noticed that C|Net had some link about iPod failures like "Is your iPod a lemon?" Certainly, it wouldn't surprise me that a lot of things are meant to chip away at Apple's hopes right now, just before Leopard and some new hardware are released.

 

[SMM]

I hate to sound like a broken record, yet each story like this is just another piece of the puzzle (not a difficult one) falls into place.

Apple is a serious threat to MS and those in the know understand this. MS spent 5 years developing an OS which does not match what Apple has today. Apple can play the 'Leopard Card' and take any momentum Vista may begin to gain. Why does Wall Street care?

The number of fund managers who are holding MS is huge. If they start dumping it, the stock will start to sink like a stone. Besides, it has not reached that point yet. There is definitely incentive to help bolster it. They can certainly promote it, but they get double the effect by discrediting the threat.

With that being said, they are walking a very thin line. They do not have the same ability to just came right out and lie, like Fox Screws.

 

[Jay42]

Yeah, maybe the iPod has manufacturing problems, but what they never mention is they have a higher rate of failure than other HD players. The thing is, no other player has enough market-share to do a serious comparison.

 

[hulugu]

Yeah, maybe the iPod has manufacturing problems, but what they never mention is they have a higher rate of failure than other HD players. The thing is, no other player has enough market-share to do a serious comparison.

The WSJ article does make that point, when you sell 70 Million units of anything, even the lowest failure rate turns into a large number of grumpy people. Apple is right, a 5% failure rate is below the line for most consumer devices, but that still means 3.5 million people have a dead iPod.
Personally, I have three, and the oldest is a 2G 10GB and the battery is dead, but for a few bucks I have a brand-new battery that lasts 20 hours. My wife's iPod Mini is still going strong from 2004, so I think the whole 'busted iPod' story is way overblown.
The iPod isn't immortal.

 

[Jon'sLightBulbs]

He's a loose canon,

but he's an unbiased one when it comes to music players. Dvorak's already trashed the Zune marketing and legal team for creating the labirynth legal disclaimer and licensing agreement sent out to Zune testers. He screamed bloody murder after actually reading the long document, objecting to several terms that I frankly don't remember. Oh, here's one: he complained that the licensing terms didn't allow him to "share" the Zune he recieved as a tester with anybody, which he claims circumvented the performance of his job as a tech journalist/propogator of consumer product information to the public. A senseless motormouth he may be, but one who carries no flags or membership cards.

 

[solvs]

A senseless motormouth he may be, but one who carries no flags or membership cards.

But he used to bash Apple on a regular basis, often for no reason. And it would be out of the blue. Odd for someone who claims never to have owned an Apple or wanted to, but it would spike his readership, and we'd fall for it every time. He is grumpy about everything, but only recently really letting MS have it as bad. He's the original basher, all the Enderles and Thurotts out there have nothing on him.

Oddly enough, on some other show on CNBC some financial guy recommended Apple. Saying people were just selling before the holiday to cash in on the profits they've made after buying the stock earlier (like I should have). And the whole, selling when it's still a rumor before it dips after the shows, which it sometimes does. He actually said to buy some now, not just keep it if you already have it, because he expects it to go through the roof once Leopard and the new iPod/phones come out.

 

[evil_santa]

But he used to bash Apple on a regular basis, often for no reason. And it would be out of the blue. Odd for someone who claims never to have owned an Apple or wanted to,

Most of the PC loving Mac hating people I have met have never used or only used a mac for 5 min & based their opinion on things like 'not being able to eject the DVD drive from the button on the drive' or 'you cant right click on anything'

If you feel they are wrong email them and tell them!

 

[Sesshi]

But he used to bash Apple on a regular basis, often for no reason. And it would be out of the blue.

He still does, if 'bash' is the right word and for the most part he's in the ballpark. He 'bashes' a lot of things. I suppose a member of the Cult of Jobs would think it is 'bashing'.

 

[solvs]

He still does, if 'bash' is the right word and for the most part he's in the ballpark. He 'bashes' a lot of things. I suppose a member of the Cult of Jobs would think it is 'bashing'.

You must not have read some of his stuff years ago. Haven't really been keeping up lately. I believe the last thing I read about him was that Apple was going to dump OS X for Windows. Ok. There were some doozies, some of which didn't even make sense and some were just outright wrong. So, yeah, bash is absolutely the right word. Here's a video of him saying he pisses off Mac users on purpose.

You must not know me very well if you think I'm a cultist. Go read the thread on how much the Finder sucks and that'll tell you just how much of a fanboy I am. Or any of my comments on the suckiness that is .Mac. And didn't I say he was just grumpy in general?

I could call you a troll, but since I don't know you well enough to make judgment, I'm thinking I shouldn't, but I resent being called a member of a cult because I don't like poor journalism (tech or otherwise).

 

[freebooter]

I just took a close look at my co-worker's NEC (or was it Panasonic, whatever) mp3 player, 40 GB. I was stunned. Do you remember the late 80's--it was like that. What a joke!

 

[Greenjeens]

You must not have read some of his stuff years ago. Haven't really been keeping up lately. I believe the last thing I read about him was that Apple was going to dump OS X for Windows. Ok. There were some doozies, some of which didn't even make sense and some were just outright wrong. So, yeah, bash is absolutely the right word. Here's a video of him saying he pisses off Mac users on purpose.

That's an amazing, on camera admission and gives a rare admission inside how this tech reporter manipulates viewers emotions and loyalties with a great degree of skill, to maximize viewer response and measurable participation and feedback.

Playing an impassioned and brand loyal group he's speaking too, just like like a violin. A most revealing admission and example of how a media savvy individual manipulates his audience...I feel so used and dirty

I've never been impressed with You Tube before, but with more videos like this, I can see the socially redeeming possibilities of short videos.


Good One!
Dave

 

[feelthefire]

Good for him for pissing off apple fanboys for the fun of it. I hate to say it...but you guys are really fun to piss off.

I see here that it's only okay for him to bash if he bashes something you don't like. That's a nice world view, don't you think?

I really don't understand the whole competition between Apple and Microsoft. use whatever you damn well please and leave everyone else's choices alone. They're not your business anyway.

 

[bill4588]

Good for him for pissing off apple fanboys for the fun of it. I hate to say it...but you guys are really fun to piss off.

I see here that it's only okay for him to bash if he bashes something you don't like. That's a nice world view, don't you think?

I really don't understand the whole competition between Apple and Microsoft. use whatever you damn well please and leave everyone else's choices alone. They're not your business anyway.

i agree. i dont see why so many apple people get offended when a Windoze humping freak says that OS X sucks. If they want to deal with windows then let them, and one day when Apple has 95% market share, we will have the last laugh.

 

[Chris Bangle]

This kind of thing happens whenever ANYthing gets too popular, whether it's justified or not. For what it's worth, the iPod is a truly amazing device, and STILL the best of its kind. But if there's ever even the slightest problem with it, it will be over-scrutinized and blasted all over the place -- because that's what the "news" loves to do. Anything for a story. And since just about everyone has an iPod, they know anything with iPod in the headline is going to have people paying attention and tuning in...

It's really quite shameless, actually.

i agree with you soooo much,,,, ford, mcdonalds, coca cola and apple

 

[princealfie]

i agree with you soooo much,,,, ford, mcdonalds, coca cola and apple

I hate the golden arches of corruption and ford so much.

 

[rstorm]

There will never be an electronics product that will be 100% defect free. What would be interesting to know if what % are the iPods at...1%?

 

[solvs]

I see here that it's only okay for him to bash if he bashes something you don't like.

No... my point was that he was making stuff up for the express purpose of pissing people off. And it worked. That's not valid criticism, that's not responsible journalism. I'm not saying it's ok when someone e-mails a death threat to some writer who "dares" criticize Apple either, but Mac users have been treated like ignorant outcasts in the computer world for so long, we get a little defensive when people who are payed to have an informed opinion spread FUD. There are plenty of valid criticisms of the Mac, which of course we can all disagree on what's good and what's bad, but FUD is FUD.

What, there's no more middle ground between being a zealot and a troll now?