Apple paid tech guru $15K to praise iPod on news shows

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 39
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    PAID...TO PITCH APPLE?????



    The ones that I feel for are people like Leo Laporte, Kevin Rose, Brett Larson, and damn near every other review writer of every mp3 player review from 2001 to now...they got...nota...from what we know... and look, most all rated the ipod top - even after knocking its downfall (battery life aint everything)
  • Reply 22 of 39
    wnursewnurse Posts: 427member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by AgNuke1707

    Dear Lord,



    I can see this thread going nowhere in a hurry...



    Thank you for wasting 30 seconds of my life with your ill-contrived and completely ridiculous opinion.



    But, I do respect your right to have opinions ... even if they are misguided...



    ANYWAY...



    Apple is paying to push a product, the U.S. government was paying to push a legislation plan. Sure the government uses your tax dollars to do it ... what do you think Apple uses? Somewhere in Cupertino there's a magical money tree Apple gets it's advertising money from. Yeah, please ... you pay for them to advertise their products. Sounds like the same thing if you ask me ... oh well, no one's going to win this one...




    Apple is not using tax dollars. Apple is using money given to it by consumers. If i never buy an apple product, they cannot use my money can they?. It's never good to compare private companies with the government. I used to work for the government (EPA). Do you know what they did at end of fiscal year when they realized that they had too much money left over to spend?.. they would have lavish parties, buy stupid stuff.. because the theory is that if you do not spend it all, u get less in next appropriation. See the difference?. It's all free money to the government, while apple has to work their butts off to get theirs. Please, please for the sake of all the suffering taxpayers in america, do not compare private companies with the government. People don't care what private companies do with their hard earned cash, they do care what the government do with their tax dollars.
  • Reply 23 of 39
    groveratgroverat Posts: 10,872member
    Ag, if you're going to let loose like that you're going to have to bring some critical insight along with it. Bile + substance can go over fine; bile alone is verboten.
  • Reply 24 of 39
    21122112 Posts: 36member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by wilco

    So, you believe that the government should be allowed to spend money to pay "journalists" to support their policies in the media?



    To answer your question Wilco, absolutely not.



    If you want to serve the age, betray it.
  • Reply 25 of 39
    swiftswift Posts: 436member
    Well, allow me to rule definitively on this whole matter-- not.



    Yes, spending my tax dollars to pimp government programs, and then hiding knowledge of that, is wrong. And it's kind of relevant here. After all, every buck Apple pays shills is money they can't give back in dividend, or by lowering prices, or paying its engineers for the insane hours they work.



    But everybody's forgotten that Apple's not alone here. In fact, large sections of the technology press are basically shills for one product or another. C/Net, for instance, is a massive Microsoft suckup. That's what's important. If I read somebody's review of a new gadget, I want to know that he's done his best to serve the consumer, not what makes Jobs or Gates or other paymasters happy. If they don't agree to that, they should have a sign on them when they present something: Paid Shill Who Received X Dollars from the Manufacturers of the Product He's Pimping.



    The iPod's still better than any other player, though.
  • Reply 26 of 39
    slugheadslughead Posts: 1,169member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by wilco

    This act by Apple has very relevant parallels with what the current administration has been doing.



    So put a thread in the political forum. That way people who couldn't care less about your political views wont have to fish through them to find an interesting comment.
  • Reply 27 of 39
    wilcowilco Posts: 985member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by slughead

    So put a thread in the political forum. That way people who couldn't care less about your political views wont have to fish through them to find an interesting comment.



    Since the moderators have no problem with the relevant political comments on this thread, why don't you go pound sand up your ***?
  • Reply 28 of 39
    groveratgroverat Posts: 10,872member
    Enough.
  • Reply 29 of 39
    What I find enlightening about the give and take on this topic's side-track is the parallel with the current political situation. Whenever one of us losers in the last election, that is someone who actually believes in a secular government that keeps religion and state matters separate to protect both, who actually believes in equal rights for all (and not just for those who think exactly like us), and who also believes in a judiciary that should make decisions based on the Constitution and federal law (not upon personal biases and prejudices), speaks up when observing yet another nail in our democracy's coffin by greedy, power corrupted politicians, someone from the winner's circle invariably lashes out with such vitriol as to give us pause.



    I wonder why that is? They won, they should be gleeful. Or is it actually that they really don't want anyone around who disagrees with them, to point out their imbroglios? How patriotic is that?



    However, I agree with the moderator and I'll say no more. I don't want an iPod anyway. I want a G5 consumer tower no bigger than my old Sawtooth. \
  • Reply 30 of 39
    The issue for NBC is that, if Corey's words are fact, that NBC knows it has paid consultants for manufacters on their show and choose not to disclose it.



    I don't see any thing wrong with Apple hiring a consultant, but that NBC doesn't let us know does suck. Of course its not likely that NBC would have everyday non-paid Joe on their show to stammer and studder their way through a demonstration.



    Reality (as in non-scripted, non-edited) and marketshare don't seem to want to connect.



    Look at TV as fiction as none of us will be surprised.
  • Reply 31 of 39
    akhomerunakhomerun Posts: 386member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Xool

    The fact that he was paid for his endorsement, genuine or not, should have been disclosed.



    While I can handle corporate America paying some shill to push product, I can't handle the government doing the same. When my tax dollars are used to espouse views I don't agree I get angry.



    Hear that BUSH!




    blah blah blah bush is so evil and is responsible for everything that has gone on in the world like AIDS and world hunger and teen pregnancy.
  • Reply 32 of 39
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by groverat

    Ag, if you're going to let loose like that you're going to have to bring some critical insight along with it. Bile + substance can go over fine; bile alone is verboten.



    I was simply saying that there are TONS of people who have been singing iPod praises since day 1 I named names that I could recall, but darn near every portible media player roundup since 2k1 has shown iPod as top dog be it PC mag, PC world, Mac*, mobil*, extremPC, c|net and so on - with all of this praise coming for nothing more than the cost of a few eval units, why would Apple need to pay for press, so one guy says they suck..so what



    As to the whole battery thing, a lot of people have mentioned that the battery life on iPod is a sore spot (or has been) but even so, the iPod has come out tops on nearly every review. so it is a great product.



    Apple cant bribe everyone in the tech press...can they?
  • Reply 33 of 39
    gene cleangene clean Posts: 3,481member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by a_greer



    Apple cant bribe everyone in the tech press...can they?




    No, but they can pay someone in the press.
  • Reply 34 of 39
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    Funny, lots of responses about my Bush comment, but nobody appears to truly understand my point. Or perhaps nobody has been following the news.



    Using tax dollars for services (like welfare or bridges you don't drive on) is one thing, but using them to pay pundits to push the administration's agenda is not right. Tax dollars should be used to create a dialog, not a one-sided PR campaign. The pundits can push whatever agenda on their own dime, but not on mine.



    Our government will create programs everyone may or may not support, but that's not the issue.



    In fact, if our government pays pundits to push the administration's agenda that may be ok, as long as its openly disclosed and/or balanced. Propaganda is nothing new... just make sure you know the source of your information.



    My point was to compare and contrast these efforts by Apple and the Bush Administration. If you can't see the differences and similarities and only chose to attack me because I live in Berkeley, it only reflects poorly on you.



    The issues are (1) disclosure and (2) who is picking up the tab. I'm not a fan of anyone's propaganda, FUD or otherwise, but corporate America is not held to the same standard as our local, state, or federal government.
  • Reply 35 of 39
    msanttimsantti Posts: 1,377member
    Is this the insider lounge or political outsider.



    Just wondering as this thread has gone totally political.
  • Reply 36 of 39
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    The most logical and non-political analogy of him touting products for a profit would be when any operating system, database and other software product companies who pay a firm to test their product(s) against other product(s) but sends them a tailored, non-consumer built piece of equipment then uses the results to market those results in the consumer space.



    When the consumers purchase the product and don't see the same results suspicions run rampid and eventually someone blows the whistle.



    Computer Associates, Microsoft, Oracle, Sybase, Informix(IBM) and others do it quite frequently.



    All this aside: how much did NBC get paid to spotlight those products through commercials? This smells of NBC not being in on the negotiation and thus pissed off so when this got exposed they washed their hands of the situation.



    NBC can do so, afterall, it is their network and he was exploiting personal profit on his employer's dime.



    It's the risk he ran with and it caught up with him. I'm sure he'll find another opportunity having such previous media exposure around IT products.
  • Reply 37 of 39
    Quote:

    Originally posted by groverat

    Ag, if you're going to let loose like that you're going to have to bring some critical insight along with it. Bile + substance can go over fine; bile alone is verboten.



    Just bringing as much insight as everyone else has ... besides ... this thread has gone way off topic anyway.
  • Reply 38 of 39
    dave jdave j Posts: 84member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by AgNuke1707

    Just bringing as much insight as everyone else has ... besides ... this thread has gone way off topic anyway.



    To drag the thread back to topic: nobody commented on Greenberg's assertion that he wasn't paid for his NBC work, only local TV news. That surprises me cause that's hilarious.
  • Reply 39 of 39
    slugheadslughead Posts: 1,169member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Dave Marsh

    someone from the winner's circle invariably lashes out with such vitriol as to give us pause.



    Actually I believe it was an Anti-Bush rant that started the politics in this thread.



    Have some self control, go to the political outsiders forum, and stop annoying us non-republicrats with your predictable tu quoque jibber jabber.
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