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Public Relations Masterstroke?

S

Space Moose

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 5, 2006
32
0
Imagine that you've decided to make a fairly radical change to the appearance of your highly beloved, highly successful, and highly anticipated product.

You know that a lot of people will be extremely vocal about the changes. The loudest complaints will come from the dedicated Apple fan-base. You also know, from past experience, that many people who hate the new appearance will grow to love it or tolerate it before very long at all.

You are certain that there will be a great deal of international press after you announce the product. That press would universally pick up on stories of 'dedicated fan base unhappy with the changes'. Every article touting the new device, would include a line or two about the Apple faithful being loudly against the new version.

So, you leak the device months early. You know the the Apple faithful will scrutinize the device in every way. People will agonize over it, people will tout it's beauty, they will tear it apart (literally and figuratively).

Eventually many that disliked the changes will rationalize the reasoning behind the aesthetic changes ('it grows on you' or 'they packed so much in there, they had to do that'). Eventually, the Apple faithful will grow quiet about the aesthetic changes, and nearly universally start to drool over the feature and spec bumps.

All that will happen on the Apple fan-sites, and well out of the public eye. By the time the product is released and all the media attention is in full-afterburner, the 'base' will be done with the new look. Most of the people that had initially hated the look, now love it and want two. Most of the rest who still dislike it will have already shouted themselves hoarse months earlier (and will be buying one under protest!).

There would still be numerous people who dislike the change (true for every Apple product), but the furor over the look would be dead. The Apple fan-base would be strongly behind the new product. The media would have nothing negative to report on.

Brilliant PR move.

We've all noticed Apple has been purposefully leaking a lot more information in advance of its releases. This significantly reduces the amount of shock and outrage that happens after a product launch. Apple is getting better and better at the game they're already so good at.

Space Moose
 
Sense

I wish everyone with access to the internet was as articulate as you.
Your hypothesis makes sense.
 
Do we really need ANOTHER post on this subject?

If it were any other company, you have a valid argument. But I'll quote myself from another thread...

It just doesn't fit Steve's control-freak personality. And not just having control, but having the appearance of having control. In other words, he would never let this happen because it makes Apple look like they are not in control.

I bet this is eating him alive!! LOL
 
You could be right, even though it seems like a bit of a stretch. My guess is Apple is experimenting with their process for outing new products, but I'm not sure yet if I agree with your assessment of their strategy.

My best guess is that they know that a new iPhone will be a tougher sell than previous iterations have been. The new features are arguably less compelling than those in previous launches have been, particularly since they've already outed the software in their last keynote. This seems like a good product to "go viral on" to test the waters, since they don't have as much to lose as they might have had in previous announcements.

edit: Gruber's just jealous they didn't come to him first.
 
Geckotek said:
Do we really need ANOTHER post on this subject?

If it were any other company, you have a valid argument. But I'll quote myself from another thread...

It just doesn't fit Steve's control-freak personality. And not just having control, but having the appearance of having control. In other words, he would never let this happen because it makes Apple look like they are not in control.

I bet this is eating him alive!! LOL
Click to expand...

And what makes you so sure of that?
 
Geckotek said:
History.
Click to expand...

The distinct lack of cease and desist actions in the past little while directly contradicts your theory.

Someone wise once said that the more you tighten your fist on things, the more they slip through your fingers.

Apple has adapted its release/leak strategy, that much is obvious. Whether this is an intentional example or not is questionable, but it does fall in line with their recent release/leak process.
 
Where is this 'Afraid of change' thing coming from? It's so simplistic that it hurts people's intelligence. What sort of a change a basic iPhone OS imposes years after its introduction?

Even the screen layout is similar to my iPhone.
 
FunkyJunk said:
Your question being "why Gizmodo?" Well, why NOT Gizmodo? I don't know what the readership data is, but surely they have to be one of the biggest gadget blogs on the web.
Click to expand...

Because Apple has had an acrimonious history with Gizmodo. They are, to put it mildly, not friends.

So if Apple did want to do this, why would they hand this huge present (worth a lot of page views and ad money) to an organization they're not particularly fond of? Why would they overlook the publications they do like and give all this exposure to one they don't really like?

I'd need an answer to the 'why' of that before I even began to entertain this idea.
 
Space Moose said:
The distinct lack of cease and desist actions in the past little while directly contradicts your theory.

Someone wise once said that the more you tighten your fist on things, the more they slip through your fingers.

Apple has adapted its release/leak strategy, that much is obvious. Whether this is an intentional example or not is questionable, but it does fall in line with their recent release/leak process.
Click to expand...

What release/leak process? What makes you so sure this exists? I've never seen anything that even hinted at a controlled Apple leak in the past. In fact, our rich history shows that when there were true leaks, Apple pursued them vigorously (ThinkSecret).

The distinct lack fo C&D actions since then just proves that Apple is perfectly aware of their limited success. The press have some major protections in this area. Since ThinkSecret shut down, they have had very little they could pursue with strong legal backing (TS used insiders which was the ammunition Apple had against him.)
 
Small White Car said:
Because Apple has had an acrimonious history with Gizmodo. They are, to put it mildly, not friends.

So if Apple did want to do this, why would they hand this huge present (worth a lot of page views and ad money) to an organization they're not particularly fond of? Why would they overlook the publications they do like and give all this exposure to one they don't really like?

I'd need an answer to the 'why' of that before I even began to entertain this idea.
Click to expand...

I know I read earlier that someone said Steve used Gizmodo for all his tech news. Not true?
 
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