Oh, wait, without noting it, Fortune just changed the headline to “Did Steve Jobs spin the NY Times?” (The original still shows up via Google.)
Lie. Spin. Whatever. Who doesn’t do either to The New York Times? It’s certainly no crime. Let’s be real: The way we read it, the thing is full of lies, half-truths, and spin.
Here’s the story: Jobs told the Times, “Originally, we weren’t exactly sure how to market the Touch. Was it an iPhone without the phone? Was it a pocket computer? What happened was, what customers told us was, they started to see it as a game machine. We started to market it that way, and it just took off. And now what we really see is it’s the lowest-cost way to the App Store, and that’s the big draw. So what we were focused on is just reducing the price to $199. We don’t need to add new stuff. We need to get the price down where everyone can afford it.”
But, Elmer-Dewiit reports, “But according to AppleInsider’s Kasper Jade, citing unnamed sources familiar with Apple’s decision making process, that’s simple not true… It was a bad part, not cost or marketing considerations, that kept the camera off the iPod touches introduced this week.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: To us, it seems obvious that Jobs was spinning and that iPod touch was supposed to get a camera (third-party cases were made for 3rd-gen touches with camera holes in them, for crying out loud), but, hey, it didn’t make the cut. As CEO, Jobs can’t really come out and say: “The cameras didn’t work, but they’re coming” or he’d freeze the important holiday shopping market for iPod touches. Duh.
Where’s the “lie?”
Here are Jobs’ words, broken down into sentences with our parenthetical assessments:
• Originally, we weren’t exactly sure how to market the Touch. (Could be true)
• Was it an iPhone without the phone? (A simple question)
• Was it a pocket computer? (A simple question)
• What happened was, what customers told us was, they started to see it as a game machine. (True as long as at least 2 or more customers told Apple as much)
• We started to market it that way, and it just took off. (True)
• And now what we really see is it’s the lowest-cost way to the App Store, and that’s the big draw. (True)
• So what we were focused on is just reducing the price to $199. (Could be true)
• We don’t need to add new stuff. (Opinion of one of the greatest marketers and product developers of all time)
• We need to get the price down where everyone can afford it. (Opinion of one of the greatest marketers and product developers of all time)
So, Jobs simply said what he had to say, but there’s no lie in his words – which is probably why Fortune changed their headline so quickly.
Wait – is the Touch so different from the iPhone that a case maker would need to create different versions of its product? What’s not to say that the pictures of the proposed Touch case (with camera) couldn’t also be for the iPhone (which has a camera)?
I’m confused . .
Talk about the silly season. Who cares ? It’s not like it’s of any material import.
Oh what a lack of news we spin!!!!
And why would the alleged camera parts that were going to be used for the iPod touch be bad? Wouldn’t it have simply used the same camera that works perfectly fine in the iPhone???
Purposely making a false statement is not a lie? Since when?
Whoa MW “hell”
@Mormegil
Some of the cases were in packages labeled as 3rd Gen iPod touches. Also, the camera holes were in the top-middle of the cases and not the top-corner.
I also immediately felt the “So what we were focused on is just reducing the price to $199.” claim was false, simply because they are offering the last-generation iPod touch 8GB at that price point anyway. They could have put the cameras on the updated 32 and 64GB units without affecting the $199 price point of the 8GB units.
Do the new iPhone touches have built in microphones?
RC have you seen the iPod touch and compared it to the iPhone? Huge difference in thickness and weight. There’s certainly no guarantee that a part that fits in the iPhone would work would fit into the iPod touch.
@Mormegil
Yeah, they are different. The iPod touch has the “sleep” button in a different spot on the top and the headphone jack is at the bottom near the home button, next to the USB port.
And the iPod touch is thinner, .33″ for the touch and .48″ for the iPhone.
Of course it was spin and subterfuge, and of course he gave the interview to Pogue who would dutifully throw him softies and not follow up. And of course someone is in a snit for pointing out the obvious.
“The Press, Watson, is a most valuable institution, if you know how to use it.”
–Sherlock Holmes
So… the iPhone has a camera, the nano has a camera, and somehow this journalist thinks the lack of an Touch camera has something to do with a “bad part”?
Nice work Elmer.
“You LIE!!!….ooops, did I say that out loud? Sorry.”
On the touch page go to Games + Apps, scroll down to Music + Entertainment.
Link: http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/games-and-apps/
Notice the Camera Bag description: “SNAP a PICTURE and …”
What?!! The touch can snap pictures? I sense a class action suite coming…
Who cares? This is journalism 101, “create controversy where there is none to generate readership”.
Will all the righteous holier than though “goody two shoes” hypocrites just go masturbate in private ?
It sounded to me like thought process justification for bringing it to market now. Not a lie, just a readjustment.
If it had a non-working part the screams would never stop.
@Vista pracova:
No class action here. If you click on more info in the app store, it explains that it runs on the Touch (editing photos), but that you need the iPhone to take pictures.
There is an easy test for this myth. Just wait for fixit to disamble the first ipod touch 32gb. If there is a free connect for a camera on the mainboard, Apple changed his mind and dropped the camera in the last moment. If there is no connector, this feature was never planned for this generation of iPod touch.
Good, Lord. Jobs wasn’t going to say, “Yeah, we really, really wanted a camera in there but our supplier dicked us over with a bad part.”
“So don’t buy this incarnation of the touch, because a camera is coming everybody! Hold off on buying one, because it’s coming soon!”
Duh.
You want real spin? Watch that video of Balmer from 2007 pissing on the iPhone with his “$500??? Fully subsidized?!?!” B.S. rant. The whole time he probably had a full load in his pants knowing that product was the beginning of the end of Windows Mobile.
Now THAT’S real spin.
Can anyone confirm the 8gb $199 model is really just the 2nd gen version, whereas the 32gb & 64gb models are 3rd gen models with faster processors and such?
I think Apple fully intended to ship a stripped model for $199 all along but were intending to ship the upper two models with cameras but had to back off when the components didn’t work like they wanted. My guess is they didn’t want to overly depress their margins by including the same camera as in the iphone but the cheapo camera bit them in the butt.
You can lash Apple for not adding features or you can credit them for not adding crappy features that don’t work right, I guess. I’ll choose the latter.
Why wold people say he lied? There was a bad part that they could not use. The body and internals were all designed for that part. If they could not use that part a redesign to fit another part and purchase that part would raise the price of the unit. No one knows what goes on behind the closed doors at Apple.
Seesh I could start a blog and cite unnamed sources familiar with Apple’s decision making process.
Bloody hell, you guys make it complicated when it’s simple. There are pros and cons for every decision.
It is true that not having a camera on the iPod Touch will emphasise the gaming platform. It is true that having a delay between cameras on the two products will differentiate them.
It is also true that it would have been better to have had a double whammy on the day, and have had a camera on both. The posters had probably already been printed!
So instead of the 110% knockout, fuck it, go for the 90% knockout. Get the gaming platform. Get the differentiation! Get what is available, while the supplier is dicking over with the faulty fucking part!
It’s not rocket science, so why are you guys always so fucking dumb!?
Dammit! MDN nuked the troll’s post. I had a great reply, too. Screw it – I’m posting it anyway.
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Happily watching from a Windows 7 X64 workstation, running Photoshop X64. On a $700 QUAD CORE. Haha.
…All wrapped in a cheap, shitty, tinny case with cheap, shitty, noisy fans, a cheap, shitty, plastic faceplate with cheaper, shittier, plastic buttons and running a shitty plastic-looking OS. Sounds great!
You know… I’ll happily take a Mini instead, keep the desk space, and work next to a nice quiet dual core computer in a nice well-designed case, and running a superior operating system. But, hey – Thanks for posting, troll!
@Snow Leopard and welfaremike
Thanks for the clarification
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