Why so much press negativity toward the iPhone 5?

[KPOM]

Why does it seem that with the iPhone 5, the tech press is trying harder and harder to manufacture controversy? Granted, tech reception to the 4S was mixed, to say the least, but I get the sense the tech press is actively trying to find flaws with the iPhone 5, as if someone wants to be the first to declare that Apple has peaked. Consider:

• "Scuff-Gate"
• Weekend sales were "only" 5 million
• The whole flap about the purple hazing effect

I'd add Maps, but that is a legitimate criticism and not linked specifically to the iPhone 5, but to iOS 6, not that it seemed to hurt the adoption rate of iOS 6. After 5 days, iOS 6 achieved 25% adoption, which is greater than ICS' adoption rate after nearly a year.

 

[chakraj]

the press is doing what apple has trained them to do.

Apple presents itself as the finest computer and smartphone manufacturer on the planet, they have the most trouble free, best looking and highest quality product. (this is what is now expected of them, as that is the market position they nurtured over time.)

So now if they dont come through 100% they will see some kickback.

this is what they wanted.

 

[nuckinfutz]

I feel pretty de-motivated by the tech press. But then again all I need to do is look at their website to see what's really important.

Small sliver of text filled with hyperbole, flanked by ads ads ads. Television ushered in the "shock jock" syndrome where the focused skewed to negativity and now the weblog press is following suit. Instead of providing historical context and informative information about products the goal now is to fan the flames and point out every single item that is perceived as wrong.

I've avoided most of the iPhone 5 reviews. I own a 4 and I know what I like and what I don't. I really don't need the Tech press to tell me much and not surprisingly they don't deliver that often anyways.

 

[KPOM]

But this isn't as if Apple hasn't had worse issues in the past. The iPhone 4 antenna, the cracking of the original polycarb MacBooks, scratching iPods, and exploding iPod Nanos come to mind.

With the 5, it seems as if the tech press is actively trying to find flaws in areas where most customers wouldn't even notice.

 

[alent1234]

google paid bloggers

almost all tech writers are paid or nudged on what to write what they are told

 

[jgalan14]

Is because is supposed to be the next big thing, lke the iPhone 4 when it came out, was the best looking phone (iPhone is that) and it had the best camera on the market for almost a year, screen was beautiful to look at, now android and windows have that too, there is almost nothing special on iPhone 5 the other manufacturers already have and can probably do better, the Galaxy s3 has ics (old OS) but the features it has like smt stay, and call someone just by being the phone in your ear are some features people look, or pop up play(playing a video while texting) are some small feature the iPhone doesn't have, that app store and then play store was the biggest difference two years ago now days most apps ara available in both platforms, so there is not a special reason to keep an iPhone unless you completely in Apple ecosystem (which most phone buyers aren't) the phone will still sell good don't worry about the Press, as long as you happy everything is good

 

[KPOM]

Is because is supposed to be the next big thing, lke the iPhone 4 when it came out, was the best looking phone (iPhone is that) and it had the best camera on the market for almost a year, screen was beautiful to look at, now android and windows have that too, there is almost nothing special on iPhone 5 the other manufacturers already have and can probably do better, ...
so there is not a special reason to keep an iPhone unless you completely in Apple ecosystem (which most phone buyers aren't) the phone will still sell good don't worry about the Press, as long as you happy everything is good

Well, as a shareholder, I want Apple to sell 50 million or more a quarter, and don't want people turned off by non-issues.

I hear the "other manufacturers have done this before" argument a lot, but that was always the case. The only things that Apple really did before anyone else were the capacitive multi-touch screen and the "Retina" display. Others had done basic touchscreens before. Other phones had "apps" before (Symbian and Palm come to mind). The Nokia N95 had GPS and a 5mp camera with flash. The iPhone was one of the last with 3G (so being the last with LTE was no surprise).

Granted, Android's app store has largely caught up, though this is overblown. Even Windows Phone with "only" 50,000 apps has lots of the basics. I think what makes the iPhone popular in the first place is that there aren't dozens of different varieties in different form factors.

 

[TM WAZZA]

When you are at the top, everyone loves to hate on you.

If you are a B grade company, nobody gives a damn.

 

[bowlen]

I don't really care what the press says - I haven't experienced any issues with my phone and am loving it

 

[paulrbeers]

Apple has the highest selling single phone on the market. And even mentioning issues of it will drive site visits (even poorly written articles). Heck someone could just post iphone 5 problems over and over again in a blog and it will probably get half a million hits right after the release of the iPhone 5.

If an Android phone sold even half of what an iPhone does, we would be seeing all of these articles as well.