Microsoft: Honesty Didn't Work Out Date: 2007-06-28 10:35:40
Word has it Microsoft is rethinking its "freeform" PR strategy in the light of the ambivalent market response to new products such as Vista. Further evidence in the form of Steve Jobs' fulminant iPhone launch appears to validate the theory that people don't want to see how the sausage is made.
I'd venture that, feature-wise, the iPhone should have been a disaster. And I agree that any form of openness in PR would have meant tons of negative PR for Apple. Thus, the iPhone launch was appropriately handled.
But here's the thing: customers will figure out eventually that they just bought a crappy device for many hundreds of dollars. Only that will be well after the first waves of sales. Eventually, customers will weary of the "we know what's best for you and our product absolutely rocks" type of marketing. Also, honesty and free flow of information in PR works only if you have a great product.
So, yeah, if you know your product sucks, heavily regulating the outflow of information pays off in the short term. But wouldn't rethinking your development process make more sense than betting your company's success on how well the advertising team can lie?
I'd venture that, feature-wise, the iPhone should have been a disaster. And I agree that any form of openness in PR would have meant tons of negative PR for Apple. Thus, the iPhone launch was appropriately handled.
But here's the thing: customers will figure out eventually that they just bought a crappy device for many hundreds of dollars. Only that will be well after the first waves of sales. Eventually, customers will weary of the "we know what's best for you and our product absolutely rocks" type of marketing. Also, honesty and free flow of information in PR works only if you have a great product.
So, yeah, if you know your product sucks, heavily regulating the outflow of information pays off in the short term. But wouldn't rethinking your development process make more sense than betting your company's success on how well the advertising team can lie?
Comments
 B |
B says
(2009-10-22 10:56:04)
I realize that this post is quite old, but why would you "venture that, feature-wise, the iPhone should have been a disaster"? Blanket statements like those (without providing evidence for such a statement) do nothing for the reliability of your post. |
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Udo says
(2009-10-22 17:49:44)
I believe the word you are looking for is "credibility", as in "that does nothing for the credibility of your post" - and you're absolutely right at that. It's my totally subjective opinion, and there are no citations or studies to give them an undeserved aura of scientific truth. However, as I'm not totally hostile to the idea of exchanging actual arguments and factoids, I offer this for clarification: there is no way in hell I'm buying a locked-down device that doesn't let me install my own software, a device that is nothing if not one tightly integrated piece of DRM, a device that gives me the feeling that - although I've been suckered into buying the thing - I don't actually own it, a device where every bit of functionality is entirely incidental and bestowed upon the user purely as a courtesy of Apple. Also, at the time of this post, there was basic stuff missing like Copy&Paste. The built-in camera was a disaster, the supported media types for playback are a joke, and you can't even record video or send MMS or share the net connection of your device with your laptop. Basic stuff that even my el-cheapo Nokia does without breaking a sweat. But if you want current examples, look at the deeply corrupt approval process for iPhone applications. |
