“Oh, to have been a fly on the wall in Apple’s PR department over the last week. A company that is legendary for obsessive control over its message has watched helplessly as things have spun out of its grasp,” Rory Cellan-Jones reports for BBC News. “First, there was the kerfuffle over the stunt which saw U2’s new album given away free to every iTunes user whether they wanted it or not. That provoked a wave of anger and derision from people who saw the provision of a free download as a massive assault on their freedom and an insult to their taste in music. Then came ‘Bendygate’ with reports emerging that the iPhone 6 Plus, with its ‘dramatically thin anodised aluminium design,’ could warp after being placed in a pocket for some time. Now this looks to be the very definition of a ‘first world problem’ – who, but a very sad hipster, would stuff a huge phone into his impossibly tight jeans and sit on it? But, as with all Apple stories it quickly went viral, with the first video showing the apparent problem, hitting 18 million views by this morning.”
“Finally, and far more seriously, came the botched update to the iPhone and iPad operating system iOS 8,” Cellan-Jones reports. “There had been a few annoying bugs in last week’s release – notably a problem integrating apps with the new Health Kit – so the moment the update was released many users rushed to download it. And within minutes iPhone 6 users found that it introduced a whole new set of bugs, including preventing their phone from connecting to a mobile network. Now while actually making calls is a relatively minor feature for some modern smartphone users, this caused an instant wave of anger and panic. Providing millions of users with software which effectively turns their phone into a brick is hardly a good PR move.”
“Apple has looked surprisingly accident-prone over recent days. The company is adept at building expectations before a launch, and at trumpeting the brilliance of its products in polished presentations and adverts,” Cellan-Jones reports. “It has never been as good at dealing with problems – indeed, it has been arrogant about the need to engage with its consumers and the media.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Once again, as we’ve been saying for years:
Apple’s PR department couldn’t get out in front of something if it were standing still, much less firing at the speed of light around the globe. In some ways, regardless of what’s FUD (“Bendygate”) and what’re actual screwups (iOS 8.0.1, Maps), Apple deserves the bad press they get simply for fielding a colossally inept, largely mute PR effort for, literally, decades. Anyone studying public relations and damage control should look at Apple’s history as an example of how not to do it.
This Jobsian vestige of “let it fester, clam up, hope it goes away, and only deal with it when it becomes unbearable” is not effective damage control. It’s also bad for your health, as Steve Jobs would tell you today, if he could.
For a week or so, Apple was perfectly on message, killing it with rip-roaring iPhone 6/Plus sales and then, of course and as should be expected since it happens every damn major product release, multiple shitstorms hit — some of Apple’s own making (iOS 8.0.1 just stupidly poured gasoline on the already-raging FUD fire), some ginned up by jealous rivals — and Apple Public Relations (a misnomer if there ever was one), as always, stands there “shell shocked,” like deer in the headlights, unable to properly respond.
Someday, we’d like to see an Apple with a modern, effective, responsive, well-staffed, competent PR department. It would be a sight to see.
We gave you the recipe for iPhone FUD yesterday. By now, Apple should know the recipe inside and out. Apple should have a proactive PR team with a wide range of responses ready-to-go weeks before launch. Apple should immediately begin preparing for the inevitable FUD storm that’s coming with the Apple Watch launch. Not days or weeks after it hits.
All that said, Apple’s products and services are, for the most part, so good — assuming iOS 8.0.1 is a one-off brain-fart — that soon enough, none of this will matter.
Related articles:
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Apple CEO Cook goes from record sales to iPhone stumbles – September 25, 2014
Apple: iOS 8.0.2 coming ‘in the next few days’ – September 25, 2014
Rush Limbaugh: How did Apple miss the iOS 8.0.1 bugs? – September 24, 2014
How to get rid of iOS 8.0.1 and revert to iOS 8.0 – September 24, 2014
iOS 8.0.1 fiasco: Apple exec responsible for catching bugs before release has a ferocious door-slamming temper – September 24, 2014
Apple pulls iOS 8.0.1 after users report major problems – September 24, 2014
ALERT: Do not install Apple’s iOS 8.0.1; breaks cellular connectivity, Touch ID support for ‘large number of users’ – September 24, 2014
Apple releases iOS 8.0.1 – September 24, 2014
