Now that’s rich… the Seattle Times editorial board giving Apple’s Steve Jobs business advice: “Apple’s latest iDevice needs a new name.”
Huh. Now let’s see. Since returning to Apple about a decade ago, Steve Jobs has rescued it from oblivion while introducing a string of hit products that have led to soaring market share, unmatched margins, and quarter after quarter of record profits… even during the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression. In the process Jobs has also managed to redefine both the music and smartphone industries, while increasing Apple’s share price some 2800%.
Meanwhile, over that same decade, the Times has watched its readership, influence, newsroom and revenues shrink to the point where 49% shareholder McClatchy has essentially written off its investment to zero.
And they’re telling Jobs how to run his business?
But it’s not so much the misplaced smugness of the Times editorial that bugs me, or the fact that it’s based on a lazy joke that had run its course within hours of last week’s product announcement. It’s that with everything else going on in the world today, this is what they waste precious op-ed column inches on?
And I’m the one who’s accused of not being serious.
It’s that with everything else going on in the world today, this is what they waste precious op-ed column inches on?
Apparently yours aren’t so precious in view of the amount of time you spend on the Times, an also ran according to you.
And women responded much more negatively to the name choice than men. But being a “man” the different reaction probably eluded you.
allysa @1,
Let me point out, in case you haven’t noticed, that HA is not the Seattle Fucking Times, and thus I have absolutely no column-inch limitation. Let me also point out, for the umpteenth time, that the original tagline on HA was “An almost daily blog on WA politics and the press.” Media criticism has always been a primary focus of this blog. That’s what I am: a media critic.
As to your second comment, it’s not like they called it the iTampon or the iRag or even the iPadwithwings. “Pad” is a generic word. My dog has pads on her feet. I enjoy Pad Thai. The Mac OS has long included a “NotePad” app, and Microsoft sells a “Bluetooth Number Pad.” Yet I don’t see women complaining that any of these are either insensitive or offensive.
So MAD TV did a sketch a couple years ago about an iPad feminine napkin. It was kinda funny. So what. It’s still the obvious name for this product, given its iPod heritage. Deal with it.
who the fuck cares?
Surely their more union-supported bills in Olympia that the Times can oppose.
(I know, don’t call you Shirley.)
If Frank Blethen had sold his $150 million printing plant and put it in Apple stock, he’d be a billionaire. As a publisher — not so much.
I have to agree about Jobs’ success as a business leader.
If only his company would produce products that were useful as well as fashionable, that would be a coup.
@1 Apparently it eludes you that most three-letter words in the English language have multiple meanings. If you decide to read a double-entendre into a product name, that’s your virgin* problem.
* Notice I didn’t use the word “fucking” like Goldy did. I’m trying to be civil. So, I avoided words like “twat” and “snatch” and “cunt.” And if you decide to read a double-entendre into the word “virgin,” that’s your fucking** problem.
** We have an earthy sense of humor on this blog. Either get used to it, or find another blog.
23 Bet you’re still a virgin.
“Women” responded negatively? The women I’ve talked with have thought the fuss was stupid. Most of us don’t give a s–t what some electronic device is called, anyway.
We all have our religions, if it is not the deity it is Karl Marx, if it is not Karl it is the almighty buck, …
so for Mac fans its is Steve Jobs.
I have nothing against Jobs, I wish him well and can only express jealousy at his marketing skills.
My problem is listening to the devout defend the Pope. I have heard that:
Apple invented the PC
Apple invented the notebook Apple invented the GUI
Apple invented the smarphone
etc.
My question for his fans is … if there is a Jobs, who created him? the great Turtle?
As for the iPad I have no idea whether this overgrown cell phone will sell. The price is, as usual for Apple, confiscatory … not just the entry level price of $500 but the monthly fee to ATT! The styling? Since I like Ferraris, it is hard to say that I do not admire Apple’s sense of design. The usefulness? Seems to me that there are plenty of tablets oth there now (I own one) with better function and better battery life.
Then there is the package. No doubt, tight genes and all, ol’ Mr. Jobs still has a package!
He is .. well the Michael Jackson* of computer vendors.
*Funny thing is, I never did get Jackson either. I did enjoy the Moon walk and Thriller but he was no Coltrane or Mozart.
@2 Let me also point out, for the umpteenth time, that the original tagline on HA was “An almost daily blog on WA politics and the press.” Media criticism has always been a primary focus of this blog. That’s what I am: a media critic.
—
Yea, well, perhaps you should mention that “primary focus” here:
A year later Goldstein transformed his campaign website into a local, political blog. A mix of snark, satire, muckraking, and surprisingly thoughtful analysis, HorsesAss.org quickly became the most influential blog in WA state, and one of the most widely read local political blogs in the nation. Goldstein also blogs at Huffington Post and Daily Kos, and is best known nationally for breaking the story about former FEMA Director Mike Brown and his disastrous tenure at the International Arabian Horse Association, and for his relentless coverage of adulterated Chinese food imports.
http://horsesass.org/?page_id=2227
just to remind people that “media critic” is part of a hidden skill set. Otherwise, they just might think you have a bad case of Seattle Fucking Times envy.
Didn’t Matt Yglesias say the same thing earlier today?
Oh, sorry (for “John”) Matt was talking about the “Washington Post” and not the “Seattle Fucking Times”. Apparently “semantic equivalence” is a concept that some people have difficulty grasping.
Maybe if they put more resources on the editorial board and less on writing gift wrapped endorsements of the real estate and building industries people would read the Seattle Fucking Times. Not to offend anyone but who reads that rag anyway.
@13 Not to offend anyone but who reads that rag anyway
A lot more people than who read this rag, not to offend anyone. They have what Goldy lusts after – readers. Hence the unremitting, raging jealously, what Goldy calls “media criticism.”
@13
ps I think you and YLB would make a handsome couple.
The Times has Readers?
Other than Goldy?
NO!
To test this I paid them $150 to put the words fuck God into two pieces last week. NOBODY noticed!
@7
Your views on what women think have no more merit than Slobodan Miloševic’s on human rights. You’re HA’s resident sexist, a throw-back to the Triassic period of women’s rights. When you talk about “Mrs. Rabbit” you have to be talking about a real rabbit, you pervert, since no sane woman would let you near her. What a creep.
@17 I personally think he’s a sexist pig, but you can call him a sexist rabbit if you like. I don’t know about pervert, though. I’ve never caught him with a goat.
I have no fucking idea what’s in any female’s mind, but I know when to run like hell.
The real question is why do libs worship Apple?