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The idea that anything reviewers write will have any measurable impact on iPhone sales is laughable. Can reviews or other media coverage kill a startup? Sure. I
by IBM 9y ago
The idea that anything reviewers write will have any measurable impact on iPhone sales is laughable. Can reviews or other media coverage kill a startup? Sure. It happened to Juicero.
An Apple product is like a Star Wars movie, it doesn't matter what anyone writes, people are going to see it. Nobody really intermediates between Apple's relationship with customers, and that's been proven over and over again (most recently with The Verge's months long campaign painting the removal of the headphone jack as "user hostile").
- slg 9y agoWill bad reviews kill an Apple/Star Wars release, obviously not. That however doesn't mean that reviews don't have any effect. Otherwise why would these companies go through the process of giving out review devices or holding critic screenings? Or why would all these reviews get so much traffic if their content had no effect on the reader's ultimate buying decision?
- IBM 9y agoIt's obvious why they're doing it, they're a business. Why wouldn't they try to maximize buzz for their product? It may help on the margins but it's not at all like some startup. Apple is a 41 year old company and an established brand. They're a known quantity to customers and there is already a relationship there. Their experience with past Apple products will have more impact on their decision than any review will.
- aetherson 9y agoCompanies, and maybe more so executives, live and die on the margins. Would bad reviews for the iPhone X sink Apple as a going concern? Certainly not. Might they result in missing guidance for the quarter? Possibly, and that would cause the stock to fall and a lot of people to be upset -- even though Apple would still be a hugely valuable, profitable, going concern.