“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.
@ Kathy
Yeah, not to mention that life is super-fun for women. Maybe you could give that a whirl.
“His head’ll pop right off like a dandelion.”
Or, more likely, he’ll just start claiming that he predicted Apple’s current success all along.
Yawn – this guy is not worth fighting with or paying attention to.
“From what I can see, there is a lot of stuff sitting” in Enderle’s head ” that isn’t moving.”
Liberal – favorable to or respectful of individual rights and freedom.
Liberal – favoring maximum individual liberty in political or social reform
For those of you that believe liberals are somehow misguided – please explain why.
In a different context – Wouldn’t the one most conservatives tout as there savior – Jesus – have been considered a Liberal in his day? He sure wasn’t all about the status quo or pleasing the sitting government.
“At some point in the future, Apple will have a failure. Most of us may not be alive to see it, but it will happen.”
I was alive to see it, it was called the Newton and the Lisa and the Cube and the Apple III and the AppleTV. Hang on a second which products have been successful, oh yes the iPod. Go iPod !!!!
@Kit-N quotes: “At some point in the future, Apple will have a failure. Most of us may not be alive to see it, but it will happen.”
@Kit-N sez: I was alive to see it, it was called the Newton and the Lisa and the Cube and the Apple III and the AppleTV. Hang on a second which products have been successful, oh yes the iPod. Go iPod !!!!
Derek sez: Apple messes up regularly! Just like every other human organization! Kind of a DUH, that one. I think the Apple III was a bon fide failure. I have to give some applause to the Newton and Lisa as bold experiments that were ahead of their time. Apple got both of them right later on in the form of the Macintosh and the iPhone. The Cube was a fun idea, but the Mac Mini is what Apple really needed and eventually got around to it.
AppleTV is IMHO sort of in the realm of the Newton and Lisa in that it is a step in a new direction but not quite ready for prime time. Rumors about where it may go in the future are interesting. If Apple pulls something better than a TiVo out of the hat then it may have a kewl product.
As for what Apple products have been successful: Even in the worst of times the Macintosh has been successful. Only doom wishers were blind enough not to see that. It was bad management pushing stupid Performas out the factory door that created the crises of 1996 and 1997. Then the moronic idea of allowing 3rd parties to make and sell Macs added to the problem circa 1997 and 1998. But the Mac consistently was brilliant, consistently and fundamentally better than any contemporary Windows PC. AFAIAC the weakest period was when Motorola and IBM fell on their face getting out fast and energy efficient PowerPC chips. This lead directly to Apple abandoning them for Intel, at which point Mac market share again rose and continues to do so to the detriment of Windows PC market share. The Macintosh has been keeping Apple quite successful for quite a long time.
And now we have the iPhone, which only happens to incorporate all the functionality of an iPod. Apple leap-frogged the market and the sales have been well beyond predictions. It is easily a brilliant success.
And then we have all of Apple’s software. Setting aside the great Mac OS X, Apple’s FileMaker has been a major seller on both Windows and Mac platforms. Apple has some of the very best audio and video editing software available, and it also sells very well.
So please, no dumdum comments about ONLY the iPod being THE Apple success. Only a troll would be dopey enough to attempt that line. You weren’t being a troll now, were you @Kit-N?