Recent reports from various websites, such as Applelinks and GraphicPower, indicate that Apple
Computer is forbidding press passes to be issued to certain website
representatives because their sites promote rumors and speculation
about Apple hardware and software offerings.
GraphicPower has decided to shut down, which I think is probably an
extreme reaction, and Nick
dePlume has taken the high and mighty road, which I think is
somewhat hypocritical since he runs a rumor site.
Since no list of banned sites has been published, for all I know
this January I'm going to have to pony up $15 for my own floor pass.
Not that Low End Mac is all that well known
as a rumor site, but you never know with Apple. Some of the banned
sites don't seem to publish rumors, either.
Let's take a calmer look at the situation and the reactions of
various sites.
First, when Apple is feeling successful, or rather, almost so, they
tend to get arrogant. This may or may not be a side effect of the
Jobsian revolution, but it is a pretty well acknowledged fact. The
examples are well known to everyone: A series of snubs for the UK
including dropping out of a trade show and ending British English
support; summarily cancelling profitable business for PC versions of
its acquisitions; ditching the Newton and eMate without warning instead
of, say, lowering the price point or selling off the division instead
of killing it.
Apple is exercising its ability to shut out rumor sites, to whom the
Company has repeatedly demonstrated its disdain. No big surprise there.
But the bluntess of the decision, the way it was carried out through a
hapless third party (IDG) is demeaning for IDG, Macworld magazine, and
the sites shunted aside.
On the other hand.
Apple is a company; it views rumor sites as damaging to its
business, so from that perspective its actions are seen as perfectly
reasonable.
I won't be at MWNY, and it remains to be seen if I'll be at MWSF. My
attendance depends primarily on my budget and schedule and available
time to miss teaching. It doesn't depend on whether or not Apple likes
me.
If you run a truly independent website, you shouldn't care if Apple
likes you either. We all wish the best for Apple, insofar as it
promotes our Favorite Computing Platform. Apple is not recognized as a
nice company. Innovative, daring, leading; not nice, necessarily, for
its own sake. That's okay. They have shareholders to please and profits
to account for, and these are bigger issues than small fish like me can
influence in the big frying pan that is Apple Computer. (How's that for
a well blended metaphor?)
In fact, from a wider perspective, there might even be beneficial
side effects of these banning actions - for the sites involved.
How's that, you say?
Now we're going to do a little spinning here, but let's just think a
minute before getting all partisan, okay? We're not going to make you
dizzy till you puke, like those guys who are rotating over at Wired,
but we're going to give you a good whirl.
First, if GraphicPower really shuts down, doesn't that play into
Apple's hands? I mean, if Apple's objective is to shut down rumor sites
- whether by starving them of information or just plain ticking them
off till they quit - then Apple has certainly won. If I were webmaster
at GraphicPower, I might consider the sweetest revenge as not
giving up but using the publicity to my advantage.
Second, with respect (and with all due respect) to Mr. dePlume, what
better tool for future columns to be made even more enticing than the
fact that, despite being banned, due to his impressive journalistic
prowess and amazing insider connections, he continues to publish his
series of articles on Jaguar?
Lastly, let's consider this. I went to our local Mac computer store
the other day, a little shop tacked on to the end of a shopping center
in Pleasant Hill's brand-spankin' new downtown district. I had to look
a long time to find something that (a) I wanted and (b) I could justify
purchasing "offline" due to the price. Having made my selection, I
asked the clerk, "Ever heard of Low End Mac?" He answered quickly,
"No." The point being that even the relatively successful sites like
LEM are not well known to the run of the mill Mac-using public.
And yet Apple takes notice of rumor sites (and sites that aren't
even rumor oriented) enough to try to shut them down on an individual
basis. Kind of like a backhanded compliment, wouldn't you say?
Is it a bad thing that someone at Apple pays attention to your site?
I suppose so, if they're actively working against you. Depends on your
objectives, I guess. It's encouraging for me; I wonder if anyone at
Apple reads LEM regularly.
Like the sites that consider themselves as having "arrived" by
receiving - and posting - an Apple cease-and-desist letter, these guys
ought to start some sort of "Bondi blue ribbon" campaign to signify
"press" that has been banned at the convention.
Oh yeah, and someone should start a "banned from Macworld Webring"
and design a little badge with some kind of cute icon with a circle
that has a tilted line across it. What better way to receive attention,
which is what we all crave in this business?
Jeff Adkins is a relatively annoying columnist with a small enough
audience that he doesn't need to be added to any memos.
is a longtime Mac user. He was using digital sensors on Apple II computers in the 1980's and has networked computers in his classroom since before the internet existed. In 2006 he was selected at the California Computer Using Educator's teacher of the year. His students have used NASA space probes and regularly participate in piloting new materials for NASA. He is the author of two books and numerous articles and scientific papers. He currently teaches astronomy and physics in California, where he lives with his twin sons, Jony and Ben.< And there's still a Mac G3 in his classroom which finds occasional use.
