iPhone Bashing for Fun and Profit

This blog compares Daring Fireball's post on Apple's fourth quarter earnings with this mess of a post about the iPhone sales numbers as some kind of lazer that cuts throught the iPhone hype. It is simply amazing to me how people like to ignore or discount facts. It should come as no surprise that iPhone bashing is a sure way to get web traffic.

As much as I hate to do it, sometimes you see something that just gets under your skin. So.... 

The Mobile-Review.com article makes some seriously crazy arguments.

First, that Apple was behind the iPhone unlocking madness:

somebody really wants third-party companies and certain individuals to bypass the iPhones security and share their methods with others. Apple’s rivals, apparently, are not interested in this, why would they want to boost its sales and market shares anyway. So the only party that can actually gain here is Apple itself.

The basis for this ridiculous assertion? That somebody gave George Hotz a new car for hacking the iPhone and, that someone offered $100,000 for a software hack to unlock the iPhone. 

The inference Mobile-Review.com makes is that given this large amount of money at issue and since Apple would benefit, Apple had to be behind this iPhone unlocking effort.

Of course, this is just pure BS. A 2 minute Google search uncovers the truth. The iPhone was hacked because folks rightly assumed that there would be a lucrative market for unlocked iPhones in which a SIM card from any cell phone carrier could be used. 

Next, Mobile-Review.com argues that Apple, sinister monster that it is, has created to the iPod Touch to get people into the stores only to bait and switch them into the iPhone, all in some nefarious plot to get to the 10 million iPhone sales figure: 

And the fact that the Touch is not hyped or promoted like its glamorous sibling should come as no surprise either – those who really need it and know exactly what they want will go for the Touch, and everybody else will be better off with iPhones in their pockets, for it is the company’s main focus.

Ummm. Ok. Well lets see here. Forget the fact that after Apple announced the iPhone, everyone assumed that Apple would eventually release something like the iPod Touch. Forget the fact that Apple is going to make truckloads of cash from selling the iPod Touch this holiday season. Forget the fact that the iPod touch is the future of the iPod family of products. Are people going to be "up-sold" from the iPod Touch to the iPhone? Yes. Is there anything wrong with that? Nope, its a perfectly accepted retail practice (see: Mac Mini). Please tell me Mobile-Review.com that you have something else besides this. 

Well, Mobile-Review.com does have something else and its a doozy: Apple wants unlocked iPhones since it knows that in order to get its 10 million sales goal, it will have to sell iPhones to people who do not use AT&T:

Apple has deliberately driven all contracted phones out of its stores, so now it offers only the hardware. This means that the goal (10 million units sold) will be achieved at any cost, even if the company’s partners, carriers in this particular case, will suffer. Apple alone is responsible for the market of illegal iPhones that has already emerged – if they didn’t make it so affordable, it all would be different.

Yes. Of course. That's why Apple is limiting iPhone Sales to 2 per person. And why it has warned everyone that unlocking the iPhone invalidates its warranty. I see everything now - if Apple says No, they really mean Yes, Black is White, Up is Down. Ugh. Come on. Be serious here.

I can't believe that this guy had the nerve to call this hair-brained conspiracy theory a valid counter weight to Daring Fireball's rational analysis. I kept asking myself why. Why would anyone make such a irrational argument? Then I checked the traffic logs on my website.

In the past week, I've made about 1 post per day. But, my best days for traffic were articles that were directly about the iPhone. Anything iPhone drives web traffic. I guess thats why drivel like Mobile-Review.com gets written. iPhone bashing for fun and profit. Ugh. 

[Updated: October 30, 2007]

One of the challenges I am struggling with on this site is whether to open up my random thoughts to comments. Due to some bad (i.e. overwhelming spam comments) experiences, have comments turned off, but I am allowing trackbacks. So, today, I got a trackback from ramikayyali.com, who originally linked to the Mobile-Review.com article. Here's a link to his response. I am not sure how to take his response. My original gripe was really with the Mobile-Review.com conspiracy theory and I only peripherally had an issue with the ramikayyali.com post. But, as I see his response, I think he's proving the point I was trying to make - i.e. that bashing Apple or the iPhone is a sure way to drive traffic to your blog:

the reason I linked to such “drivel” is so I can read more responses like Dan’s.

Was I sarcastic? Yes. Was the Mobile-Review.com article "drivel". Yup, in my opinion it was.

I have re-read Rami's original post a number of times and I think I got it right. Rami is making a comparison to the Mobile-Review.com conspiracy theory and the Daring Fireball Tea Leaf reading. I just don't think its a valid (or fair) comparison.

But, like Rami, I'll let my readers decide.