Apple has certainly earned a lot of publicity on their iPhone. There was the legal wrangling with Cisco over the iPhone name at the start, activation woes from early users, unlocking of the iPhone software, and now, the fiasco over the bricking of hacked iPhones. Apple is usually known to have a wonderful marketing and PR engine. It seems like they have mucked up big time this time. But now I’m beginning to wonder… is all these publicity just clever engineering by their PR people? Afterall, it is still publicity. Hmmm.
Just to share one “other side” story, since everything you read on the Internet seems to say the same “Apple is bad”. An article at Wired.Com holds the view that Apple did not hack the iPhone on purpose, and that they probably even tried hard not to brick the hacked devices.
I talked about the IPR and licensing angle in my earlier post. I think (ok I sound like I’m supporting Apple, but really I’m just trying to balance the views) this legal aspect needs to be considered to. Maybe it was not nice of Apple to do what they did, but they are entitled to protect their interest. Let’s compare the iPhone to an iPod. No one hacks the iPod (at least it is not popularly known to be done). If you hacked the iPod, would you still expect Apple to provide support for your hacked device?
Actually I’m also beginning to wonder. Apple usually has a wonderful marketing and PR engine. It appears they have mucked up big time
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