Did Apple leak their new phone or was it a genuine scoop for Gizmodo? I don’t have an answer; what interests me is how the story has continued to play out.
Gizmodo’s cavalier approach to their ultimate source, hapless 27-year-old Gray Powell, has turned a triumph into PR disaster for their own brand – unless they really want to be known as purveyors of gutter journalism for geeks. (Arguably they do.) Meanwhile, commentators are so convinced of Apple’s skill at Machiavellian market manipulations that the deliberate leak angle has grown legs and run.
A few years ago I was lucky to work with some of the heavy hitters on the Microsoft public relations account and the perceived wisdom was that the differences between the two companies – and there are, clearly, many – could be boiled down to their differing approaches to the market: Microsoft invested in PR; Apple invested in advertising.
This follows fast on the heels from exclusive undercover shots of Jobs and Schmidt [or photo-op stunt, depending on who you read] discussing global domination over lattes. Times, as they say, they are a-changing.
