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Apple is losing the war of words
- sippndipp 14y agoGood article, good analysis of how the words are used in the press releases. Thus I won't agree with the intro. Google I/O is coming up and will probably bring up an update to the Android system. If this happens - the Galaxy S4 will have to wait.
- mitmads 14y agoDid you guys notice the author of the article? He has a strong connection with Apple/Jobs - https://www.smalldemons.com/persons/business_leaders/Jean-Louis_Gass%C3%A9e/see_all/Mentioned_In__1__Books https://www.smalldemons.com/persons/business_leaders/Jean-Lo...
- moizk 14y agoBullshit. In Google's Q4 2012: Amazing: 8 Strong: 10 Thrilled: 1 Focused: 9 Great: 32 China: 6 "Sad Words" Disappoint: 0 Weak: 0 Bad: 2 (in context, they said, "not bad") Fail: 0 http://seekingalpha.com/article/1126031-google-s-ceo-discusses-q4-2012-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single http://seekingalpha.com/article/1126031-google-s-ceo-discuss... The entire point of an earning call is to reassure the shareholders and raise the markets confidence in a companies' potential. It would be very strange if a company spent the majority of their earnings calls pointing out their failures and avoiding talking about their success.
- ruswick 14y agoHe specifically accounts for this by stating that Apple is and ought to be held to a higher standard because they were previously the overwhelming hegemon in the industry. I don't necessarily agree with him, but the fact that Google also uses exclusively positive languages does not by itself invalidate his point. What he is attempting to point out is that Apple, who is now ostensibly under siege and on the defensive (which, although probably true, is being overrepresented and exaggerated by the media) seems illegitimate and or disingenuous when they remain so overwhelmingly positive: the whole world "knows" that they're screwed and their language seems like a facade. Google and Samsung, on the other hand, are the new dominant companies and thus are justified in using such language.
- erichocean 14y agoGoogle is exactly "the overwhelming hegemon in the industry" that is "search". If you think that's enough of a reason to constraint Apple, surely it should also be enough to constrain Google by the same logic.
- philwelch 14y agoYou have to laugh a little at Jean-Louis Gassée, of all people, criticizing how Apple is running their business.
- RexRollman 14y agoFunny you say that, because as irrational as it is, I am still pissed at him for failing with Be.
- sigzero 14y agoDon't remind me. I loved Be and the BeOS.
- SideburnsOfDoom 14y agoYour logical fallacy is: Ad Hominem. https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ad-hominem https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ad-hominem
- mikeash 14y agoThat would only apply if he said that the conclusion was wrong because of who the author is. But he merely suggested laughing, which is not a fallacy at all.
- SideburnsOfDoom 14y ago> But he merely suggested laughing, which is not a fallacy Scorning criticism because "they, of all people..." is textbook ad-hominem. Maybe there's irony there too, but they doesn't seem at first glance what philwelch intended.
- philwelch 14y agomikeash understood what I was getting at. You're acting like an eighth grader who just discovered logical fallacies on Friday. In case you didn't know, Jean-Louis Gassée was, along with John Sculley, one of the principal figures who ran Apple into the ground after Jobs left. I find this adds an interesting subtext to his commentary on Apple now. He may very well be right, but it's amusing that he writes publicly about the subject at all. A good comparison is this letter from Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan about his handling of the Iran-Contra scandal: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/09/let-stillborn-midget-rest-in-peace.html http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/09/let-stillborn-midget-re... Nixon was probably right, but it's amusing that he of all people chose to give unsolicited advice about handling presidential scandals.
- zipop 14y agoGassée: still bitter after all these years.
- cygwin98 14y agoI always wonder though what if Jean-Louis Gassée and his BeOS won the deal (instead of Jobs and NeXT) in late 90's, what kind of Apple computer would have become? No doubt he is very capable, though I wouldn't bet on him myself.
- michaelpinto 14y agoHe's a mixed bag in terms of track record: You've got the color Mac II which was nothing short of amazing (I know because I purchased a Mac IIcx) and yet you have the disaster known as the Mac Luggable which was terrible: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Portable http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Portable
- MaysonL 14y agoSuppose that instead Microsoft had ended up buying NeXT...
- fusiongyro 14y agoOPENSTEP Enterprise ran on Windows NT. It's an interesting thought experiment.
- philwelch 14y agoI don't think Apple would still exist if they bought Be instead of NeXT.
- fusiongyro 14y agoI think this is a very interesting question. My impression of NeXT is that they nearly priced themselves out of their own market. I am not sure they would have survived without being bought by Apple. Beyond that anything could be speculated. Maybe he would have abandoned computing and gone straight for media, what with Pixar's success.
- drivebyacct2 14y agoPhil Schiller needs to shut up about Android. "Desperate" doesn't come close to describing what he's sounded like in the last week alone.
- JumpCrisscross 14y agoEarnings calls and earnings press releases have an optimistic bias. Technology companies tend to be more zealous still. The experiment in the blog, while illustrative, could have been made more rigorous with a control. A 2006 paper out of the St. Louis Fed investigated "whether managers use[d] optimistic and pessimistic language in earnings press releases" between 1988 and 2003 "and whether the market respond[ed] to" this variation [1]. It found an optimistic bias, with optimistic words appearing nearly three times as frequently as pessimistic words. Given that "levels of optimistic and pessimistic language used by managers in earnings press releases reliably predict future firm performance" and the "significant market response" to this variation, investors believe "that managers credibly communicate information to investors via optimistic and pessimistic language usage". But the market is Bayesian; "managers have reputations" that investors use as their baseline. [1] http://research.stlouisfed.org/wp/2006/2006-005.pdf http://research.stlouisfed.org/wp/2006/2006-005.pdf
- orbitur 14y agoSlightly related: I think the "You'll love the iPhone..." campaign Apple just launched is a little tacky, and un-Apple-like. It reads like one of their Valentine's Day or Back to School ads... except there's no holiday or event to back it up. Except, of course, it coincides with the S4 reveal. Even if unintentional, it's poorly timed.
- blinkingled 14y agoAttacking competitors, pointing to their weaknesses, and trumpeting one’s achievements is better done by hired media assassins. If you read Gruber's blog it is very hard to dispel that this is mostly what he does.
- dombili 14y agoReally? I think he's mostly being fair and he can be very critical of Apple from time to time. Most recent example of this that comes to mind is his latest podcast (may be the one before that, not sure). The whole podcast is about Apple's mistakes/problems. MG Siegler on the hand...
- ghshephard 14y ago...just wrote a column saying the (edit: not Galaxy, just plain Nexus, thanks acchow) Nexus was a phone he would be fine using on a regular basis. http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/08/nexus-4-review-finally/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/08/nexus-4-review-finally/
- acchow 14y agoThat article never once mentions the Galaxy Nexus. You must have your phones mixed up.
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- jsz0 14y agoApple has done very well so what else are they going to say on the earnings calls? They could consult a thesaurus and come up with some less commonly used words but that comes off as snobby and unnecessary.
- jrockway 14y agoThe point about Apple being "the Man" is interesting. Reading comments here, it seems that everyone hates every company these days, often irrationally. Are there any companies that anyone likes, or has the written word devolved to only be able to share negative opinions?
- olefoo 14y agoIt's the tragically hip syndrome, people only like companies that it gives them a social advantage to like and tell people about. In other words, obscure indie startups from Portland are more likable than global behemoths... Justin Bieber may be more profitable, but I get more street cred for telling you about Brainstorm http://brainstormbrainstorm.bandcamp.com/ http://brainstormbrainstorm.bandcamp.com/ The social economy of startup marketing is almost an exact parallel to that of independent music...
- josteink 14y agoI dislike and refuse to support any Apple product because they want to take away my option to choose what I want in a free market. Their frivolous, anticompetitive and innovation-stiffling lawsuits have cost them all credibility as a real tech company. They are now no better than a patent troll. They have absolutely zero cool. That and I don't appreciate locked in ecosystems. Plus iOS has been a daft, stale platform for the last 3 years or more.
- rimantas 14y agoYour comment is a perfect example of irrational hate based on flawed arguments.
- josteink 14y agoIrrational how? I value freedom. Apple wants to take my freedom away. If the argument is flawed, you have yet to provide a single example to show that.
- onedev 14y agoWow there is so much wrong with your viewpoint and understanding of Apple and it's vision. I don't want to waste time addressing everything I think you're wrong about since you don't seem to be open to another viewpoint. However, I would like to say that the frivolous lawsuits are literally ALL OVER THE INDUSTRY. Seriously, just take a look around. Do you think Amazon is a terrible company also, since they patented One-Click buying? When you grow to be a company worth billions of dollars, you have the best legal team available at your disposal and as a BUSINESS you should use it to cover your ass wherever possible. They're not running a charity. Now I agree that being too aggressive without innovating or using such patents is what defines a patent troll, but Apple consistently innovates AND uses its own patents, so I'd say they're far from patent trolling. Aggressive? Certainly. Trolling? Hardly. The issue remains to be solved by REGULATION by the government. It's not Apple's fault for taking advantage of a clearly broken system (since you know, they're a business and all). It's the government's job to prevent such things like that.
- thisrod 14y ago"a fellacious piece that described, in dulcet tones ..." More likely freudian slip than inspired coinage, but it's a word English could use.
- philwelch 14y agoIt makes more sense reading it as intentional.
- cageface 14y agoApple isn't losing a war of words, it's getting its ass kicked in software. Just about everybody agrees that Android is now evolving faster than iOS. Many of their recent app releases have been mediocre or downright bad, and they still haven't really figured out how to run robust and reliable cloud services. Crucial new iOS APIs like AutoLayout are an absolute design-by-committee trainwreck. Their hardware is still excellent if perhaps too conservative but I'm bearish on Apple mainly because I just don't see any evidence of the kind of software engineering discipline that's necessary to compete with Google.
- rimantas 14y ago> Just about everybody agrees that Android is now evolving > faster than iOS I don't. But with some selective picking you can argue anything you want. > Many of their recent app releases have been mediocre or downright bad, Like? Maps,and… maps? And even maps are OK. > and they still haven't really figured out how to run robust and > reliable cloud services iCloud works just fine. > Crucial new iOS APIs like AutoLayout are an absolute > design-by-committee trainwreck Since when AutoLayout is crucial? And what makes it trainwreck? > but I'm bearish on Apple mainly because I just don't see any evidence > of the kind of software engineering discipline that's necessary to compete with Google You just hate Apple, I was able to guess the author of the comment without looking at the name. And Apple competes with Google just fine.
- cageface 14y agoI actually really like Apple's hardware and their core frameworks + Cocoa are mostly excellent. But I see bad policies and bad management steering the company in exactly the wrong direction so I speak up about it instead of dogmatically defending them at every turn.
- ChuckMcM 14y agoAbout the only thing I agree with in the article is that Schiller going on the record of criticizing Samsung the day before their announcement was an error. It seems to me that the day before the cards are set, just let hand play out and then go and update your messaging.