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.
