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For years, Apple Public Relations has issued press releases for major product announcements, handed out exclusives and loaner units to a few select reporters and columnists, and occasionally signed off on an interview with one of the senior executives when it suited their marketing message. That strategy gave the company millions of dollars in free marketing with news outlets writing about every bit of information they can find.
These days, according to the Wall Street Journal, Apple's public relations department is a little more proactive. Last week, Apple issued a press release to announce iOS 6.1, a comparatively minor software release.
At the same time, Apple communications staff have recently sent reporters more favorable third-party reports about the company, including a study predicting that by 2014, Apple will be as accepted in the enterprise as Microsoft is today. Apple, and indeed virtually all its competitors, send reporters favorable studies from time to time. But the five reports Apple has sent since the start of the year, mostly related to mobile market share, represent more than recent months.
The Journal says the PR efforts "represent a recognition that competition is heating up", according to a WSJ source, with a caveat that it wasn't a big shift in protocol.
Of course, even when Apple PR is more forthcoming, it can still rely on the press to cover every move it makes.
Top Rated Comments
I feel the same way about your punctuation.
Ooh, I love fantasy novels!
So let me get this straight...within 10 months:
1)Apple software (what software?) will be as accepted as MS SQL Server or MS Office or MS Windows.
2)Apple Macs will be as accepted as Windows-based machines in the corporate world (we've been hearing similar stories for 25+ years). Even though there are no business Support contracts by Apple...you know...those corporate contracts about supporting hardware, upgrades, pricing, implementation teams, development teams, escalation/dedicated teams, etc. And where are the hundreds of thousands of Mac/Apple IT people to even do the work at Company X?
3)Apple iPads will be as accepted as MS tablets (you know, the one MS just released a few months ago which has no traction). This would be a true statement, but it's sure not saying much! Why not say that Apple will be as popular as nuns handing out cigarettes to children at bus stops?
Apple has a very, VERY long road to any kind of corporate acceptance. The very basics (regardless of how good a product(s) you think Apple has) are entirely missing from Apple: technical support, roadmapping, open-ness, pricing. Not to mention the fact that Apple has a very my-way-or-the-highway approach.
Apple is consumer-focused...plain and simple. Which is fine. Comparing phones and MP3 players to core hardware/software that RUNS businesses is abdsurd.
The major part was that Apple didn't invent the GUI to begin with, and couldn't claim ownership of something someone else had already done beforehand.
Making press releases when you decide to make them doesn't impact secrecy in any way. They make the announcements when the products have been released! The difference is that they may just be more willing to make them now. I can't see how that in any way is a bad thing.
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Jobs wrote all press releases?