Lessons of the Gizmodo/iPhone Kerfuffle

Michael Gartenberg | December 20, 2006, 01:33 PM

For those of you that missed it, the gadget site Gizmodo ran a piece last week that stated definitively that the iPhone would arrive on Monday. As usual, that set off a whole flurry of activity and speculation. I didn’t see the original post (I stopped reading Gizmodo a while over some a post that I felt was quite in poor taste and it takes a lot of offend me) but started getting emails and phone calls and general requests to comment. Monday came and iPhone was indeed introduced, but not from Apple, rather a VOIP phone from Cisco (who has owned the trademark iPhone for a long time). While the post was accurate, in a technical sense, many folks felt it was a stunt to drive traffic and it probably worked, at least this time. To me, there were some important lessons about the whole thing.

1. I’ve said it before but blogging is now part of the mainstream news cycle. (one reason I don’t really blog about blogging anymore, it’s not that interesting a subject) If you’re going to pull a stunt like Gizmodo did, you’re going to hurt your credibility long term. Can’t imagine any pub that ran with the piece ever quoting that site again. It’s difference between being taken seriously and being just another gadget site. Rumors are rumors but messing with people intentionally isn’t going to cut it. There’s no harm done to anyone but it makes me take a look at the site and what they report in a different way.

2. I keep hearing about the harm to Apple but I don’t get it. Apple has never used the term iPhone and assuming Apple were to ever introduce a phone product, there’s no reason to think it would be called iAnything. iPhone was always just a placeholder used by analysts and journalists to refer to what a potential product might be. I’ll start using the term Apple Phone for lack of a better placeholder until (or if ) something emerges.

3. I am amazed at the pent up demand from the market for a phone from Apple. If I were a handset vendor, I’d be really curious to why people are waiting for a phone from Cupertino. I think it says a lot about what people think about today’s telephony experience and speaks to what people believe Apple is capable of delivering.