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Does anyone else feel this letter seems strangely/hastily/poorly written for corporate communication? It uses terms/expressions like "totally wrong", "Their bi

by woodrow 16y ago

Does anyone else feel this letter seems strangely/hastily/poorly written for corporate communication? It uses terms/expressions like "totally wrong", "Their big drop in bars", "the iPhone’s bars", pretty much anything that mentions "bars", etc. Or do you think this is just about keeping it colloquial, so it sounds like a real email from one of your friends?

joss82 16y ago
Apple tries hard to not look like any Big Brother-like mega-corporation (remember the ad with the girl breaking the screen?). Their typical customer is a bit of a bohemian bourgeois so they need to adapt their writing to seduce that target. Ok I'm exaggerating a little bit, but do you get the point?
gte910h 16y ago
Steve Jobs always writes colloquially. I can see that trickling down.
- woodrow 16y ago
  Sure. But, in my opinion at least, his "Thoughts on Flash" seemed much more carefully worded than this. Everyone refers to signal strength as the quantity of "bars" they have, so I suppose this is the colloquial way to write this. But sentences like "Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place." just boggles my mind that it made it through Apple PR. This is the same company that has the following boilerplate on the bottom of their press releases: "Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the Apple II, then reinvented the personal computer with the Macintosh. Apple continues to lead the industry with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system, and iLife, iWork and professional applications. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store, has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices."
  - imajes 16y ago
    "Thoughts on Flash" would have gone through several lawyers, as there's a real chance of a serious lawsuit in that instance. This one would be more marketing driven and would probably only get a cursory review.

by woodrow 16y ago

joss82 16y ago

Apple tries hard to not look like any Big Brother-like mega-corporation (remember the ad with the girl breaking the screen?). Their typical customer is a bit of a bohemian bourgeois so they need to adapt their writing to seduce that target. Ok I'm exaggerating a little bit, but do you get the point?

gte910h 16y ago

Steve Jobs always writes colloquially. I can see that trickling down.

woodrow 16y ago
Sure. But, in my opinion at least, his "Thoughts on Flash" seemed much more carefully worded than this. Everyone refers to signal strength as the quantity of "bars" they have, so I suppose this is the colloquial way to write this. But sentences like "Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place." just boggles my mind that it made it through Apple PR. This is the same company that has the following boilerplate on the bottom of their press releases: "Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the Apple II, then reinvented the personal computer with the Macintosh. Apple continues to lead the industry with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system, and iLife, iWork and professional applications. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store, has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices."
- imajes 16y ago
  "Thoughts on Flash" would have gone through several lawyers, as there's a real chance of a serious lawsuit in that instance. This one would be more marketing driven and would probably only get a cursory review.