“I started this week thinking about Apple killing off Think Secret and actually threatening the income and family – during the Christmas season, mind you – of the highly visible Forbes reporter who pens the very popular Fake Steve Jobs blog. This changed the whole tone of my piece, which was to focus on products and now will question Steve Jobs’ sanity; I wonder if people on his staff are setting him up for the kind of coup that could get him removed, much like he removed his predecessors,” Rob Enderle blogs for IT Business Edge.
MacDailyNews Take: FSJ’s piece was a joke, admitted two full days before Enderle’s drivel was published. Enderle is just too stupid for words, but we’ll press on. Think Secret was “shut down” by its owner, not by Apple (although, for some reason, it’s still there with info published after they were “shut down”). The fact is, it was a settlement to which both parties agreed. Nick Ciarelli, Think Secret’s publisher, said in his “shut down” statement, “I’m pleased to have reached this amicable settlement.” Yup, Apple’s “rotting from the inside out,” as Enderle claims, because some guy from Forbes wrote a joke article and another guy is pleased. Enderlean to the max.
Enderle continues, “Journalists are part of the loyal Apple base and have been for some time. In fact, I would argue they may be the most powerful part of this base. Folks like Walt Mossberg have historically followed Apple almost blindly, praising everything the company brings to market.”
MacDailyNews Take: Walt Mossberg has more integrity in a single strand of his magnificent silver Van Dyke than Rob Enderle has in his whole body, including his itty-bitty, capable-only-of-involuntary actions fused ganglia.
Enderle continues, “Shutting down a blog because the site was protecting a source, and trying to pay off, and then blackmail, a highly visible senior journalist likely won’t sit well with this audience. They might start to wonder if they are next.”
MacDailyNews Take: Again, you have a jokester that Apple did not go after and a guy who is pleased.
Enderle continues, “Apple is going to want positive coverage for the news that will likely start coming out about the options scandal, which is likely to come off the back burner as election time starts getting closer.”
MacDailyNews Take: If Enderle’s pinning his hopes on a revived “options scandal,” he’s due to be greatly disappointed and he’s even dopier than we previously imagined (which is actually an impossibility).
Completely out of his mind, yet wholly unperturbed, as are all good idiots, Enderle plods on, “In the fight with every high-tech company on the planet, it’ll need its greatest asset, journalist fans, to step up to its defense. But I’ll bet a lot of folks are now starting to look at Apple like it’s full of rotting zombie worms and that will make the help Apple needs much harder to come by.”
MacDailyNews Take: Rotting zombie worms? This idiot is a piece of work.
Enderle continues, “Rumor is that there are people on the Apple board who have had enough of Steve’s shenanigans and would like to distance the company from him once again.”
MacDailyNews Take: Rumors from whom, Rob? Your wife Mary? The voices in your head? Somebody on Apple’s board who’s strangely allergic to vast success, immense wealth, and the pure joy of being part of a team that creates memorable, market-changing, innovative technology?
Endergizer keeps on going, “However, going after fan sites in this way, coupled with the fallout from threatening a reporter’s family and income, could be enough to tip the balance, particularly if the company missed a quarter or two.”
MacDailyNews Take: Again, it was a joke; admitted two days before you published, you simpleton.
He won’t quit, “You may want to hit the stores and see just how much unsold iPod and iPhone inventory there is this year. From what I can see, there is a lot of stuff sitting on shelves that isn’t moving. Not scientific by a long shot — but it does suggest that Apple may have an inventory problem next quarter.”
MacDailyNews Take: Hold, please… (laughing our asses off) … (still laughing) … (still) … Ahem, okay. We refer you to the following articles, each of which were followed by record profits topped only by successive quarters and/or years:
• Enderle’s infinite loop: ‘This year will be really nasty for Apple’ – January 22, 2007
• Enderle: ‘4th quarter will be Apple’s hardest since the first iPod Christmas’ – September 18, 2006
• Tech Pundit Enderle: ‘fourth quarter should be ugly for Apple’ – August 09, 2005
• Tech Pundit Enderle: ‘This year will be more difficult for Apple Computer’ and iMacs in earthquakes – January 24, 2005
Enderle continues, “So I wonder if somehow Steve Jobs is being tricked into making these decisions so that he can be easily removed when the options problem once again makes the front page.”
MacDailyNews Take: This is what happens when you try to generate wonder from a fused ganglia.
Enderle continues, “Harming others, particularly fans, and particulaly over the holidays just feels evil… This time, it is Apple that has strayed far over the line and I think it will hurt the company a lot as it tries to fight off the CES mob next year.”
MacDailyNews Take: Apple “just feels evil” because, again, some guy from Forbes wrote a joke article and because another guy is pleased. The “CES mob” will be completely overshadowed by Apple just like last year. They’re lucky that they’ll be trotting out their fake Macs, fake iPods, and fake iPhones a week ahead of Macworld Expo this time. At least they’ll get a few days of coverage.
Enderle continues, “There is clearly something rotten at Apple and we’ll know in a few months whether is it is a coup in the making. Until then, our hearts go out to Dan Lyons and his family, as nobody should have to deal with this any time – particularly not at Christmas.”
MacDailyNews Take: For crying out loud, Lyons’ piece was a joke, you cheesily-mustachioed moron.
Enderle continues, “Folks are clearly thinking differently about Apple in 2007, which is why I’m thinking Apple is rotting at the core.”
MacDailyNews Take: Enderle “thinking?” Impossible.
Full article, Think Before You Click™, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “ChrissyOne” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: He’s getting progressively worse. It’s really bad now. Just wait until Mac cracks 10% market share. His head’ll pop right off like a dandelion.
I linked to this MacDaily article on pwnership.com. I love a great snark attack.
Did Enderle do all his research by trolling blogs and filling is article with hyperlinks?
Enderle writes this stuff on purpose just so web sites like this will link to and talk about him. He doesn’t really believe any of this, he is just provoking people like you because he can. Why you waste your time and ours picking apart his absurd statements and casting insults is beyond me. He must laugh his ass off every time you do it.
WDN…. Why do you continue to post stuff from this moron?
IGNORE HIM… and he will go away!
Not true, bullshit needs to be rebutted, must be rebutted, otherwise it becomes accepted as a true reflection of events if not the truth.
Those who advocate otherwise are (possibly unwittingly) assisting in the permeation of falsehoods.
what’s rotting Is *his* brain…..
Wait, that’s impossible – he doesn’t have one…
What a piece of crap he are…
Rotten to the core – but I guess his income from his hate pieces are drying up as more and more publications won’t publish his attack pieces on Apple – as THEY know better…
C
Don’t do Enderle the respect of clicking the link and reading his piece. He is the lowest of the low, less intelligent and nowhere near the integrity of pond scum.
@TheFreeman 921 @ caddisfly
Thanks to you and many more like you who believe things are ‘just fine’, we are going to get more hobbies, toys, gadgets and fufu in a couple of weeks.
If it keeps up, the idiot we love to hate is going to look like a sage and Steve Jobs will be history’s best lesson in the chapter named: Loss Opportunities.
I’m not wrong about this.
what a frigtard!
Once again Rob defines what true horse crap is and what his position is, as it should be, under said pile of horse s–t.
Caddisfly:
“Can We Focus:::calls for “…killer, rock solid, incredibly stable MacPro…”
come on over to my house…its been sitting there for almost a year…”
then *you* are the moron…
I just upgraded a 7 year old g4 a friend was given – the AGP 400 Mhz – stuck another processor in it – and it runs Leopard and Final cut just fine…
C
How about ignoring him instead of giving him publicity? Even bad publicity is still publicity.
IF you completely ignore him as being far below the caliber of what MDN even bothers with- he’ll finally go away.
Folks, less than 1/1,000,000 of 1% of the population of computer buyers in the world have ever heard of Robert Enderle. I’ve been in this business longer than most of you have been alive and I would have happily never heard of him if it hadn’t been for MDN.
His opinions are basically dribble and his primary audience is US!!!
Ignore him. MDN should.
I’m getting to the point (as most of you should) that even commenting about this @sshole or merely mentioning his name is an utter waste of energy.
Apple is on a roll like no technology company EVER before it. Market share is growing by an incredible rate. As a tech professional myself, there was a time when I thought Apple could never hit double-digit market share. That was about 3 years ago, and even then I knew there were still great things to come. Now, it’s not a matter of IF it hits 10%, but WHEN it will. At that point, the enterprise will be forced to look at Macs as a client-server solution, and business apps written for Windows will have to be written for the Mac. This appears to be the revenge of the Stever for Gates’ theft of the market. The analyst who predicted $600 per share is not smoking crack by any means – if you can afford it, buy some AAPL stock.
So back to Mr. Enderle. Think about it for a moment. As all of you know, I can get pretty darn emotional with my tirades on this site. But this time the fact is the Rob Enderle may sound like a moron, but in reality he is becoming more and more irrelevant. His comments really have no bearing on the market anymore. Most would agree that no matter what comes out of his mouth it has no bearing on the Apple juggernaut. He is as useless as a Windows Vista PC. So why should any of us let him bug us anymore?
I, for one, am tired of hearing about Enderle, but not because of his stupidity or moronic journalism. I just don’t think worrying about him or dwelling on him is worth our time anymore.
Just my two cents.
Happy new year to all.
FM
[removed]void(0);
To: editorial@itbusinessedge.com
Dear Editor,
Please discontinue Rob Enderle’s particularly uninformed viewpoints. His opinion on topics and issues is so pathetically myopic and one-sided as to make the reader seriously question if he was paid to be so biased.
You might think that you’re benefiting from the controversy he stirs up. I can assure you that you are not. The only thing you’re gaining is a newfound lack of respect and credibility.
Wake up. Enderle is a fool, and so, by association, are you. Stop running his intellectual vomit and your credibility will take an immediate leap upwards.
Regards,
My real name
IT & Web Services Manager
A cutting-edge commercial print company
Are you kidding me, I love that this garbage was written by this twit! I might need to pull money out of a credit card to by more AAPL after this endorsement. Look at the history, every time he calls out that the sky for Apple is falling is right before some spectacular results from Apple. He is almost the perfect Apple contrarian. The day this idiot endorses Apple is when I start getting nervous about my shares.
IT Business Edge?
it’s a bit shocking that this guy actually publishes this stuff using his real name. is it low IQ, lazy journalism or intentional fabrication?
Okay, it’s really, really long, I’ll have to post it in a few goes
————————————————————————————–
From: Christina Wiley
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 7:44 AM
To: Rob Enderle
Subject: Another day, another Apple hit-piece by Enderle
“with products like theMac Cube, which, while pretty and inovative, were horribly engineered.”
So you’re an engineer now? How’s that Ferrari laptop holding up?
My God, Rob. You must be tired of writing this pap by now. The average piece of trash is worth more than your criticism of it. The only saving grace is that for every article you or Dvorak or Ou write, it just makes the anti-Apple crowd look dumber. It’s usually good for a few dollars in share price, too. Keep it up! A few more years of this and I can retire (I’m currently 34, so yay!) At least I’ll never have to stoop to writing the birdcage-liners that you cal journalism.
Not many ‘loyal fans’ are going to buy your Think Secret straw man. But that’s okay, I clicked on your site this time, so enjoy your paycheck! Think of it as a Christmas gift.
-ChrissyOne
On Dec 28, 2007, at 9:28 AM, Rob Enderle wrote:
I’m sorry, so you are arguing what that it’s OK for big companies to shut down fan sites they disagree with (not a big freedom of speech person huh?) and to personally threaten someone’s income and family over the holidays? Wow… Would you have felt the same if Microsoft had done the very same thing? I get the fan thing but a lot of folks died for our freedoms it seems very strange folks like you seem to want to toss them out with the trash. And no I don’t make a cent for doing this.
Rob Enderle
From: Christina Wiley
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 10:06 AM
To: Rob Enderle
Subject: Re: Another day, another Apple hit-piece by Enderle
So now you’re going to trot out American war deaths to defend your (apparently pro bono) career mining hits in the anti-Mac press? This after comparing Steve Jobs to Don Corleone? Rob, you’re in rare form today!
I’ve read your stuff you years, Rob. You’re not talking to an 8 year old, so save the high-and-mighty, flag-waving, Poor-Family-During-The-Holidays drivel that gets your regular readers all misty.
This is one of my favorites –
“This impression that Apple is out to lunch from an open-systems perspective is enhanced by Steve Jobs publicly saying that the Tablet PC is a niche product. This is sadly ironic, given that Apple gave up the PDA market to Palm and Microsoft as a result of one of his decisions. Like a lot of CEOs, Jobs seems to think it is more important not to admit he was wrong than to correct a mistake. If Bill Gates had done the same thing with the Internet, we likely would be looking at a much smaller and weaker Microsoft today.
Right now, Apple has nothing like the Media Center PC and nothing like the Tablet PC. The iPod is terrible as a PDA , the company has no smartphone, and you’ll find more cool stuff in a Gateway store than in an Apple store today — although I still think Apple does a better job of presenting what it does manufacture. I’m thinking that maybe it’s time, given the failed switcher campaign and the mass move of PC vendors into the consumer electronics segment, that Jobs stopped sitting around milking his installed base and started thinking outside the box.”
Oh Noes!!! Steve didn’t jump into the wildly successful tablet PC market! Apple lost their chance at a piece of that huge fortune that Palm and Microsoft have been raking in! And what of the game-changing Media Center PC? Clearly, Apple once again missed the chance to have as many discontinued products as HP!
And you’re right, there is just OODLES of cool stuff on those Gateway Country shelves. What a money pit those Apple stores have been, making a measly $4k per square foot. You can’t even get a Ferrari laptop there! (Vroom Vroom!!!)
I still get a good laugh out of that article. =)
And every day that goes by, it just gets funnier.
-ChrissyOne
PS – Come on, Rob, I’ve read The Fountainhead. I get the angle. Thanks for the laughs. And thank you so much for the email, I’ll treasure if for the rest of my days.
=)
That’s where the piece ran. Check the link up top where it says, “Full article, Think Before You Click™, here.”
On Dec 28, 2007, at 10:30 AM, Rob Enderle wrote:
I’m struggling with what you are disagreeing with. Please answer the question do you agree with what Apple did with Think Secret and sending Dan a note threatening his family and his livelihood? This seems a simple enough question which you seem to be doing your level best to avoid by cherry picking one of the thousands of columns I’ve written over the last several years and then tossing in stuff about the Gateway stores I don’t think I ever said (I recall praising the Apple stores though). By the way you do recall that at the time I wrote this piece Palm was trading on paper higher than GM was and was the darling of the hour, that the iPhone is basically what I thought Apple should be doing, and the AppleTV is what I thought they should be doing. Granted this last didn’t work out well, but it amazes me how you missed all of that.
I’m sorry you find this all funny, I don’t I’m afraid, when a powerful company goes after folks families and income I don’t find that funny at all. Says a lot about both of us I think.
Rob Enderle
From: Christina Wiley
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 10:54 AM
To: Rob Enderle
Subject: Re: Another day, another Apple hit-piece by Enderle
Oh my god. You don’t give up. This is GREAT!!!
First off, I believe I see your face at the top of this page:
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/32336.html
(The mustache is pretty distinctive, I think)
Scroll down to the last 3 paragraphs for a refresher on what you wrote 4 years ago. I’ll wait.
…
Second – Think Secret’s take on Apple’s strong arming tactics was to say this:
“I’m pleased to have reached this amicable settlement, and will now be able to move forward with my college studies and broader journalistic pursuits.”
Yeah, that sounds pretty horrible. And nothing new or unique to Apple, as you well know.
Third – WE ALL KNOW THAT THE DAN LYONS STORY WAS SATIRE. All but you. And you bloody well know, too, since you posted it two days after Dan let the rest of us in on his joke. If you didn’t know this, the I think it speaks reams about what kind of writer you are. All you have to do is read the *very first* comment, by Dee Dee Warren, under your own article. Or you could, you know, ask Dan.
Fourth – So because Palm was the Wall Street darling of the moment, that meant that Apple was a failure. I love your logic. You must have had a hell of a time back in the 90’s when every JoesFreeWidgets.com was worth billions. Good thing the dot com bubble burst or we’d be knee deep in dumb-terminals. I LOVE how you seem to imply that the iPhone was your idea, too.
Come on, Rob. Joke’s over. Or it’s on you. You decide.
-c
On Dec 28, 2007, at 12:01 PM, Rob Enderle wrote:
Unfortunately we didn’t all know the Dan thing was a satire when I wrote the piece (just search on Lyons and Apple in Google news). I write for Christmas week the week before so I can take the week off. Still you’ve successfully avoided answering the core question once again. Let me reword it: Do you think the behavior we are talking about with either Think Secret or Dan Lyons (were it true) is acceptable? I’ll bet when you first wrote me you didn’t know that the Lyon’s thing was a joke either (or you would have said it) and yet… Says a lot about both of us I think.
Now to some of your off topic comments:
One, yes I put my name and face on what I write. I’m not sure what your actual point is.
Second yes they said what the attorneys agreed would be said, doesn’t mean it was right.
Third yes you do now, I doubt you knew this when you first wrote me and I certainly didn’t. Dan is going to owe me a beer…
Fourth at the time Apple’s stock was tanking and Palm’s was through the roof, granted now things are different but if you look at the iPhone wasn’t that kind of what I was suggesting? Are you arguing the iPhone is a bad idea? I’m not saying it was my idea any more than my prediction that Apple would move to Intel, only that it was a good idea. You seem to think differently, what is up with that?
But, in the end, I wonder if for you abuse by a large company for you is more about who that company is than what they do. To me abuse of power is just bad.
Rob Enderle
From: Christina Wiley
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 12:33 PM
To: Rob Enderle
Subject: Re: Another day, another Apple hit-piece by Enderle
Whew! I thought you’d quit.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
Rob, come on. I know you’re not an idiot.
John let the cat out of the bag years ago,
But I’m having fun, so let’s continue.
The iPhone was a solid piece of Mac fan lore by the time you wrote that. *I* knew it was coming back then, I think you did too, because we both know where this is all leading to. I’ve owned AAPL since late 2000, and it was by no means ‘tanking’ in 2003. It wasn’t up by much, but it wasn’t tanking. And are you really telling me that a company’s stock performance is you barometer for how good their products are? Well then you should be singing in the AAPL choir these days.
Now, your question:
Do you think the behavior we are talking about with either Think Secret or Dan Lyons (were it true) is acceptable?
BUT IT WASN’T TRUE. I think you misunderstand me. This isn’t about defending Apple. This is about you and your crack research team.
And yes, I suspected Dan’s piece was satire because a) I’ve read his site with the word ‘fake’ in the title. b) I read your article comments. I look forward to your retraction if you’re serious. I don’t think for a moment you are.
I would, however, love referred to as one of those Howling Mac Freaks Who Fill Your Inbox With Hate Mail. You can use that if you like it. =)
Honestly, if I could, I’d buy you both beers for your contributions to my stock value over the years.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
As far as abuse by a large company, I think you need to read about how Microsoft caved to Ken Hutcherson and the Antioch Bible Church when they withdrew support for gay rights legislation in Washington state a few years back. This is real, not some made up story to get you hits.
He’s at it again now:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/16/wmicro116.x
I agree that abuse of power is bad. Duh. But it didn’t bloody happen. Are we going to seriously argue weather Steve Jobs is a control freak who will crush his adversaries? On that, I think we agree completely.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
-c1
On Dec 28, 2007, at 1:06 PM, Rob Enderle wrote:
What’s John have to do with what we are discussing? He is a friend of mine as well, but your point is?
The Think Secret thing is true; they went after and shut the site down. Microsoft reversed itself on the Gay rights thing; I covered it at the time. In that instance, however Microsoft was on the receiving end of power abuse. Funny, you could have picked examples of when they abused power but wonder why you didn’t? Reason I know this is I supported their reversal (going against the religious right is very dangerous but the right thing to do in my opinion) and most of my family are Born Again Christians which didn’t exactly sit well with them. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/06/AR2005050601593.html By the way the link you sent didn’t actually work and it is kind of ironic don’t you think that you don’t seem to know that Microsoft reversed itself given what we are currently discussing. I guess no one is perfect…
Dan is a friend of mine and I’m kind of funny when I see friends attacked. I’d actually written the piece days before it was published and yes I’ll admit to being tricked. I should have sent Dan a note confirming this, it is a weakness of mine when I see friends attacked I go kind of ballistic and don’t often think straight. Something I need to learn not to do.
But back to the point, when I wrote this I clearly believed it and the Think Secret stuff is true. What “Crack Research Team”? I write opinion columns and blog (amazes me how few people seem to get that). Can I be wrong, damn right, can I be tricked, we’ll that’s certainly true, but was my message wrong or were my feelings insincere? I don’t think so but you’d have to make that determination yourself.
Rob Enderle