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Reuters Breaking Views: "The Downside of Secrecy"

Interesting for sure. Could Apple be setting themselves up for a securities lawsuit?
 
This is what I've been maintaining ever since I got that first email from Steve Jobs which was posted here on MR. Stating that it's a non issue/hold it different was the worst PR move ever. And it's spiraled downward since then. No doubt the PR team at Apple is fighting with Jobs about responding to the claims.

It doesn't matter now whether the problem exists or doesn't. The damage is already done/being done. Apple's silence on the matter as they take media hit after media hit is an interesting thing to note.

I can pretty much guarantee that this issue and Apple's handling will be a case study for future PR classes for years to come.
 
samcraig said:
This is what I've been maintaining ever since I got that first email from Steve Jobs which was posted here on MR. Stating that it's a non issue/hold it different was the worst PR move ever. And it's spiraled downward since then. No doubt the PR team at Apple is fighting with Jobs about responding to the claims.

It doesn't matter now whether the problem exists or doesn't. The damage is already done/being done. Apple's silence on the matter as they take media hit after media hit is an interesting thing to note.

I can pretty much guarantee that this issue and Apple's handling will be a case study for future PR classes for years to come.
Click to expand...
Agree. I've said repeatedly the cover-up is usually worse that the gaffe.
Those that don't remember history are condemned to repeat it.
Hubris. Pride before a fall. All that.

Added from the nyt article:
"The trouble is, Apple has never done humble or open particularly well."
 
tigres said:
How do they know that the $5 drop was a result of the news of the perceived defect?
Click to expand...

They don't know and the drop could have been caused by other things too. Maybe it was caused by the backorders of iPhones and and a downgrade of units shipped this quarter due to the inventory issues.

The article was good but it still left something to be desired.
 
it was a good read, thanks for sharing.

I just don't like how reporters keep dwelling on the fact that in 1 day shares dropped $5. in the last 2 years it has climbed from $74 (or $192 6/mo ago) to as high as $274 and its currently settled around $250, thats the stock market, one day it goes up, the next day it goes down.
 
And right now Apple Stock is up today. Again the reporters short sight is showing on that point. The rest is not bad, I agree with his point about the case I've been using one since an hour after I got the unit and have no antenna problems.
 
samcraig said:
This is what I've been maintaining ever since I got that first email from Steve Jobs which was posted here on MR. Stating that it's a non issue/hold it different was the worst PR move ever. And it's spiraled downward since then. No doubt the PR team at Apple is fighting with Jobs about responding to the claims.

It doesn't matter now whether the problem exists or doesn't. The damage is already done/being done. Apple's silence on the matter as they take media hit after media hit is an interesting thing to note.

I can pretty much guarantee that this issue and Apple's handling will be a case study for future PR classes for years to come.
Click to expand...

Sam I knew you would fine the article a great read! I was a business school professor (ebusiness/Internet strategy and marketing) as my wind-down job after retiring and for sure this Apple snafu would make a great HBR case study of how not to manage a crisis.

What's sad is that study after study shows that a company's most loyal customers are not those who have never had a problem, but rather those who have had a problem that was handled well and fairly. Had Apple been forthright and open from the beginning, this would have been a non-issue, and for some customers it would have been an opportunity to further build brand loyalty. But now it looks like it will be very hard to shove this toothpaste back into the tube!

Very sad times for a truly great company. I am a huge Apple fan but I find their mismanagement of this PR crisis very disheartening.

As for attributing the stock drop to the CR article -- well who knows, but they are probably extrapolating from other CR stock impacts. CR wields enormous influence and in the past has nearly put some companies completely out of business. Obviously that's not going to happen to apple, but certainly it isn't a stretch to conclude that the CR report had a big impact on the stock. Also I believe the apple high came right before or around the time of the iPhone launch and has declined steadily since then, no doubt due to the frenzy surrounding the antenna issue. If so that would be more like a ten percent drop in just a couple of weeks. You can bet that the Apple board is getting apoplectic -- I guarantee it. They have a fiduciary responsibility to shareholderes. Whether that results in yet more digging in of heels rather than some measure of openness remains to be seen.
 
The article is brief but it covers the basics well. I think that the mis-management of Jobs' illness was a nice touch. Apple Inc got off lightly with their omission to inform their shareholders then; I wonder whether they'll get scrutinised by the relevant authorities for misleading consumers now.
 
Just odd to me is that they never had a case or anything to go with their phones in the past, and the way SJ's presented the bumpers just gives you the indication that they knew about the problems, and this was a quick fix, and hey while we are at it, let's charge $29.99 for a rubberband that costs us $1.00.

The issue of the phone problems do not urk me, it is the arrogance in which Apple has handled this issue, and I still love my 3GS, but I have the i4 as well plus many Mac products at home.

Their PR department needs to just buck down, admit this issue, and move on stop hiding. :eek:
 
I want to believe the PR team at Apple WANTS to act - but that Jobs is the stumbling block. I could be wrong.

I also agree - I love my iPhone4 and have told others to buy it despite the flaw and despite me having to return 2 for bad imaging with the cameras. The Apple Store on 5th avenue and the Geniuses I've dealt with have been nothing but great.

Corporate is another matter.

As for the bumper thing. I won't say it's not a strange coincidence that Apple got into the case business with the i4. But I will say that they were stupid to wait so long. Clearly they know the amount of cases being sold for their devices and were willingly allowing that revenue stream to go untapped.

Reception issue aside - it makes the most BUSINESS sense for them to create accessories for their devices rather than solely relying on 3rd party vendors.
 
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