“I genuinely love the industry analyst business. I love the role we analysts, our data, and our commentary play in helping companies make strategic decisions,” Ben Bajarin writes for Tech.pinions. “However, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend.”
“The challenge with data is that the truth lies in the interpretation. Without context genuine data can lead to disingenuous conclusions,” Bajarin writes. “This is why data cannot be put out in the public without context. Yet this is exactly what happens. It creates a scenario where a media industry who thrives on negativity can take genuine data, miss the context, and create stories around a false narrative. It is not their fault entirely. It is the fault of the data firms who release data to the public, without proper interpretation or context, and allow the media industry to draw their own conclusion, and often a false one.”
Bajarin writes, “Genuine data should point out market truths. However, when presented in the wrong way, it has the potential to do just the opposite… When you track the global sales of tablets, it is easy to look at the market share statistics and say that it is game over for the iPad. [It’s not]…”
Read more in the full article here.