Let’s review the events in Apple-land over the past few months, shall we?
1. An Apple engineer either leaves an iPhone 4 prototype, or has one lifted from him, in a beer garden
2. Said iPhone 4 prototype gets plastered all over the world, taking away a meaningful measure of excitement from Steve Jobs’ planned reveal
3. During Jobs’ big unveiling of the already-unveiled, the Wi-Fi is so saturated by the media’s WiFi networks that he can’t do his demos properly, if at all
4. Apple has no backup plan in place for such a predictable situation
5. Beyond this point, I won’t even mention issuing the Safari 5 press release claiming immediate availability and then not having the pages or the download online for two hours (we’re used to that move from minor league iPod case makers, not Apple)
Perhaps Jobs is getting a bit soft as he grows older. Maybe he’s not banging heads even when heads beg to be banged?
Those five items above are silly, stupid, utterly predicable mistakes. That’s not the Apple, under Jobs at least, with which I am familiar. (Please, don’t remind me about the Apple without Jobs. For that Apple, the four items above would be successes.)
Okay, so event number one is a youthful mistake or maybe a crime. We’ll find out someday. If it’s the former, that Apple engineer should be former, too. Event number two, well, that pretty much had to follow, given Apple’s secrecy fetish. I’m not excusing any crime, if one was committed, but take away the tremendous vacuum Apple has created for the last decade plus and then filled in all at once, in one fell swoop in a beer garden and #2 wouldn’t have happened. Apple created the demand for Apple secrets. And, yes, I understand perfectly why Apple does the secrecy thing, but it only works when you can keep your secrets.
Now, #3 and #4 are just ridiculous. How Apple didn’t see this coming is beyond me. And not having a backup plan beyond asking/telling the media to stop reporting? I have to say, there’s no other word for it than “Microsoftian.”
I would’ve liked to see the iPhone 4 for the first time today. Failing that, I would at least liked to have seen those demos as Steve Jobs intended them to be seen.
I happened to catch the end of NBC’s Nightly News tonight. Brian Williams mentioned there was a new iPhone, but the main thrust of his story was that Steve Jobs couldn’t connect the new phone to the network. Now, there’s some great publicity. I’m not sure if Williams mentioned that Jobs also lobbed a setup made in heaven, “Scott, got any ideas?” to which several “Scotts” sang back a clearly audible chorus of “Verizon,” or if I just read about that one on approximately 1,100 websites.
No wonder Apple’s QuickTime stream of keynote speech isn’t online yet. It may never be.
The funny thing is, Apple brought this WiFi failure upon themselves. Apple used to stream their keynotes and even broadcast them via satellite, but supposedly, this became “too expensive.” Well, that B.S. no longer flies, Mr. Bigger Market Cap Than Microsoft. In fact, it hasn’t flown for many, many years. Apple’s been doing this on the cheap for years and it finally bit them in the ass.
Stop being cheap, Steve.
$40 billion liquid in the bank means that you can hire Akamai or whomever to stream your infomercials, sorry, your “keynotes” and “special events” along with an HD yule log 24/7/365 worldwide to everyone with a screen for the next six and a half centuries. Heck, forget streaming: Comcast just bought a controlling stake in NBC Universal for a mere $13 billion. Imagine, you’d still have $27 billion left and you’d even have some fresh content for your little hobby, too. (wink)
Bottom line: Broadcast your events like you’re supposed to and you can have all the WiFi you need for your demos. If not, you’re either going to want the ‘Net mainlined straight into your 30-pin Dock Connector (that’s your backup, at least; why do I have to tell you this?) or don’t do live demos that depend on wireless connectivity because asking the media to stop doing your job of delivering your event to the world, as you should have been doing all along, isn’t going to work out any better than it did Monday morning. In fact, it’ll almost certainly be worse the next time around.
SteveJack is a long-time Macintosh user, web designer, multimedia producer and a semi-regular contributor to the MacDailyNews Opinion section who, among other things, basically described the iPhone on December 10, 2002.
SteveJack is such an Apple kiss-ass! </sarcasm>
I have to agree:
Stop being cheap, Steve.
Lighten up, Francis. Nothing would scream “ogre” more than Jobs flying off the handle and firing that engineer for an honest mistake. Apple doubtless had an action plan in place for such an event and acted on them accordingly. I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve some sort of penalization for it, but firing him because he had the misfortune of being taken advantage of by unscrupulous punks is a bit extreme. If anything, I bet Jobs is taking some personal pleasure in the opportunity to put Gizmodo in their place.
I thoroughly disagree that the leak took the steam out of the actual demo. I was actually anxiously anticipating it since the leak and had rather high expectations. I wouldn’t have paid any attention to the whole thing otherwise. But getting the details actually blew me away even more. Yes, I am very much psyched up for the new iPhone and my wife and I will be upgrading prematurely. Before today, we would have been content with just the OS update for our 3Gs models.
I do agree that the wi-fi issues was very much amateurish and shouldn’t have happened. I’m actually shocked that it did. I’m also quite certain that it never will happen again.
agreed, sadly.
Sorry Steve-O but “the Apple, under Jobs at least, with which I am familiar” has grown from an insignificant North American company on death watch, to a worldwide Cinderella success story in the last ten years. Unlike ten years ago, today they sell millions of devices outside the U.S.A. so fittingly there’s far more media interest, more technical pressure, leaks, more stress on potential weak points, including WiFi demos @ WWDC. It’s a symptom of their rampant success, and not the harbinger of dysfunction you suggest.
I think the stolen prototype was unfortunate, but I’d add one more thing to the list: Letting AT&T;stab Jobs in the back by reneging on the iPad service deal 2 months after launch.
Brau,
Not having a backup plan in case of predictable Wi-Fi issues is dysfunction.
I find this post to be very ironic. A classic case of throwing stones from a glass house. MDN makes plenty of mistakes, stupid ones at that. Why, even the teaser for this article as posted in the News section had a link that was supposed to bring me here. Instead, it redirected me back to that same teaser. I got here instead by clicking the link at the top of the page for the ‘Opinion’ section. Amateur mistake?
You bet.
Then there is the News page itself, which is constantly getting scooped by the Mac-centric sites it links to in the left margin. I’ll see a headline over there for hours before it appears on MDN, usually with an attribution to a reader for leading them to it. Can you really not be bothered to read your own site? Really?
This leads right into MDN’s ‘live keynote’ coverage from any of Apple’s events. Today was a typical example… I was following on Engadget (the best coverage, by far) Mac Life (decent coverage) and MDN. Your coverage was pathetic. Your most recent entries were often more than 5 minutes old, by which time Engadget had photos of the next 3 points of Steve’s speech.
Finally, all of the BS political posturing that infiltrates this site. I mean, people come here to read about all things Apple. Bringing political biases into things only serves to lower you.
I point all of this out, not to belittle or deride you specifically, but to illustrate that no company, no entity is infallible.
Apple is doing just fine. The prototype deal? Well even you shoot that argument down as it is quite likely that a crime was committed. The Wi-Fi ordeal was frustrating, but honestly it had never been an issue before. The recent proliferation of personal Wi-Fi hotspots is to blame for this. Honestly, there was no reason for there to be 570 individual hot spots in that room. That is entirely too many, of course there is going to be problems. Also, for the record – Jobs did not ask people to stop reporting, he asked them to disengage their Wi-Fi. Engadget soldiered on just fine with 3G… I shouldn’t have to tell you that.
As for the live stream… did you ever actually try to watch one of those? It constantly froze and dropped. It was awful. And that was at a time when Apple was nowhere near as popular as it currently is. There simply isn’t an infrastructure to be able to live webcast to such a heavy load.
Bottom line…. You sir, are overreacting and engaging in hyperbole for the sake of trying to make a point. I think you need a vacation as you are just coming off as entirely to tightly wound.
@Willie G – Not to deride or belittle? Aside from the fact that you not only have insulted MDN, but it’s fans as well, you might want to change your tone because it’s nothing less than deriding and belittling. Another example of a total lack of decorum provided by internet anonymity.
As for the opinion by Steve Jack…
I’m reminded of Chicken Little – the sky is falling. Perhaps, Apple has had a streak of bad luck. Still, whether the iPhone prototype was stolen or not seriously determines whether Apple was slacking or a victim. And considering the known facts I believe it is fairly obvious they were victims. One phone stolen and now Apple is in chaos?
As for the wifi problem at WWDC, considering this has happened to Google, Microsoft, and Apple – I suggest that your understanding of the technology used and the ability of that technology to overcome such problems is lacking. Clearly there is an obstacle here that even the best minds in technology are unable to completely overcome.
Ultimately, after a decade-long, but nonetheless meteoric rise, from near obscurity, might I propose that you are overreacting to happenstance, circumstance, and coincidence? It is highly unlikely any of this will matter. While the iPad is not the iPhone, they are clearly related, yet the Gizmodo mess had no impact on iPad sales. I believe you are reacting as a geek and not as the average user who could give a hoot about this stuff. WWDC was not being watched by a huge majority of people interested in the next-gen iPhone. They will hear the report tomorrow, shrug their shoulders over the technical glitches, and – maybe – move on to the tech specs of the iPhone. More likely, they will not even read much of the coverage at all and buy the phone based on impulse, preference, popularity, past use, etc. I guarantee few will rethink their buying choices based on some obscure legal battle between geek bloggers and Steve Jobs or because Apple was besought with wifi woes at an even more obscure geek gathering.
I get the initial concern, but after a second thought, it should appear as insignificant chance. Apple will be more than fine.
@wiredzen,
Where did you get that assessment from? In what way did I insult MDN’s fans? Hell, I myself am a fan of MDN, so essentially you assert that I insulted myself. Maybe you should try a re-read with a special focus on comprehension.
The ‘lack of decorum’ you accuse me of is not in any way different from that presented by Steve Jack in his tongue-in-cheek assessment of Apple’s foibles. In fact, it was my intention to match his hyperbolic tone if only to draw attention to the hypocrisy espoused by his ‘opinion’ here.
Every single thing I pointed out in my original post was a verifiable fact – save the final point about infusing political agenda into a tech-centric website. I stand by that opinion however, and I know – based on reader comments in those types of stories – that I am not alone. There are plenty of places where one can express their political views. If you find that insulting, that’s your problem honestly as there is nothing insulting to you or any other MDN reader in that opinion. If my other points offend, then that means you are insulted by facts; and if that is the case, you have an issue of a scope far to great to address here. If my ‘tone’ offends you, then you have missed the point.
As for your assertion that I am somehow emboldened by ‘internet anonymity’, I can assure you that I would have no issue expressing these opinions to your’s or SteveJack’s face. If you or SteveJack ever want to have a face to face discussion, I would be happy to oblige. After all, it is just two people debating different points… there is nothing uncivilized about it.
Finally – I find it further ironic that you feel the need to point out my tone and then go on to throw your own casual insults SteveJack’s way (“your understanding of the technology used and the ability of that technology to overcome such problems is lacking”) . Seriously?
@Willie G
“MDN makes plenty of mistakes, stupid ones at that.”
“Can you really not be bothered to read your own site? Really?”
“Your coverage was pathetic.”
“Finally, all of the BS political posturing that infiltrates this site.”
Sorry, but I didn’t find these statements to be very inviting to conversation. My comprehension is fine. As a writer, I am aware of the subtleties of vocabulary.
You acknowledge the BS politics statement as non-factual, but it is hard to overlook and easy to construe as an insult towards the commenters on this site. Perhaps, my perception was wrong, but that responsibility falls to the writer more than the reader.
As for my lacking comment – that is not the same as “pathetic” or “stupid” by any means. I can live with being told I lack something (because I am a fallible person lacking a great many things), but being called stupid or pathetic is not something I would accept as constructive criticism. And since you are so keen to point out facts, I believe that he is/was missing them (i.e. lacking). The technologies of wifi, particularly within such a set of circumstances, is not as simple as “get it right,” a point I believe I added to by mentioning that the big 3 had all suffered similar tech issues.
That said, I acknowledge your critique of that sentence as potentially rude. Thank you for bringing it to my attention as I don’t wish to be hypocritical.
Strangely, I think we actually agree on the big picture, so I don’t wish to further irritate you.
It is interesting that,
• Our mothers and wives have to keep reminding us to put out the garbage week after week
• Our wives think all men including ourselves are idiots
• The family finances are controlled by the women of the house because we can’t be trusted to pay the bills on time
• We are great at Monday morning quarterbacking, but the rest of the week…
• Our mothers and wives expect us to do something really stupid in the next 24 hours
• We can post in anonymity, but we can’t put two sentences back to back in discussions with our spouses
• The only person that thinks we are perfect is ourselves
And to SteveJack, if there was anyone that is great at keeping secrets, it is you wife. She really thinks you are an asshole. Not that you would ever find out, it just that she knows that you are so into your self to realize it.
As for Steve Jobs, unlike you, he has never professed to be God. You and your likes have put him on a pedestal, not for his brilliance, but for the joy of knocking him off.
Funny, I don’t see you on the bottom step of any pedestal, even if you were there to clean the crap you like to place there.
BTW. I got my Safari 5 update moments after Apple posted the news release of it on their web site.
Is it possible that the media jumped the gun again?
There does seem to be too much of this ‘Apple can do no wrong’ in the media at the moment, which worries me. It can only lead to complacency on the part of Apple employees, from Steve Jobs down. There needs to be somebody within the kingdom willing to stand up, view things with a critical eye, and occasionally say publicly when things could be done better. And that task seems to fall to MacDailyNews. Good on you for trying to keep Apple focused.
What is going on, criticism of Apple on MacDailyNews, its not April Fools Day!
Don’t get mad at SteveJack for writing the truth.
“There does seem to be too much of this ‘Apple can do no wrong’ in the media at the moment . . . .”
Are you kidding me? Where have you been for the past couple of months? Apple can do no right at the present moment, as the above article will attest. From the lost iPhone beta to Steve’s presentation, the wolves are out, ladies and gentlemen, and they’re looking for any weakness in the herd.
The truth is that being Number One is a bitch–and one hell of a position to live up to. Clearly, things will have to change on the Cupertino campus for Apple to meet the grandiose expectations of people like MarkM, et al.
Good luck, Mr. Steve. You’re really, REALLY gonna need it for the next couple of years.
Relax. The leaks of the iPhone were intentional. Apple is beginning to face some stiff ‘catch-up’ from Android so, unfortunately, the company has to play its own version of the vapor-ware game. Leaking future product is a classic business strategy to sabotage the competition.
As for the keynote – Apple stopped live broadcasts for the very reason of not having cock-ups like yesterday beamed live around the world. Nothing to do with money. Just classic Apple control-freakery and polish.
Headley Scratcher,
Everyone knows about the cock-up anyway and Apple themselves are broadcasting it online today:
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/25513/
If they did it live instead of hours later, there wouldn’t have been a cock-up at all.
SteveJack, as usual, is right.
WOW! That was a good stab in the back. With friends like this who needs enemies?
Don’t shoot the messenger, especially when he’s right.
Never thought SteveJack would pull an “I love Apple, but…” that’s so popular with the kids who blog and don’t put a lot of thought into why things happen.
1. Apple is a large company that’s getting more exposure than it ever has. People know they can make a shitload of money off of getting a scoop on the company. Phones need to be tested in the wild. These things together – shit would happen eventually.
2. I’m not entirely sure why this is a separate item. They had no control over what happened to it after they lost it, aside from the ability to wipe it remotely, which they did. Did you just think that 5 was more respectable than 4?
3. and 4. Again, why 2 items? Apple had no control over the number of WiFi connections. The advent of MiFi – something they didn’t have to deal with last year – made the problem exponentially worse. Microsoftian? Get a grip, Steve.
5. You know for a fact that this wasn’t PR Newswire’s screw up? Wait, you mean you didn’t verify the source of the leak before posting something so accusatory? How Gizmodian.
There’s only one entity whose reputation is slipping around here and it ain’t Apple’s.
Hey, I say give Steve a break. He has had a lot going on these days.
As far as the wi-fi deal goes, all it takes is someone not putting a password on the wi-fi they set up during testing and then every guy in the audiance jumps on line. An oppps.
Compare this with Bill Gates going on tv … several times and having his product totally crash and he has no one…. I mean no one to fix it.
PS,,, I never could get either of the down loads of Steve Jobs on all things D to finish. Both versions kept crashing and trying to go back to the begining then crashing again….. Makes Steve Jobs look good.
Just a thought,
en
It’s very obvious now that Steve Jobs is single focused on what he calls the mobile device era.
Other things that used to matter, such as being the best personal computer company “on the planet”, are no long of interest to him.
So, yesterday’s embarrassments will continue but we will have the most obsessively cool phones and tablets anywhere.
My take: who the hell cares? Phones and tablets will soon be all the same – Steve’s marketing and showmanship may be better – but the place where he had such dominance in user satisfaction is no more.
Much ado about nothing. Sensationalized story looking for a hook.