Engadget and Apple

Michael Gartenberg | May 18, 2007, 09:47 AM

This was an interesting week. On Wednesday morning my phone began ringing for comments about reported delays in both the iPhone and in Leopard that were being reported by Engadget. A few phone calls later, it was clear the story was wrong. In the interim, Apple's stock price took a pretty big hit (and later came back) but there's been a lot of discussion about how Engadget handled the whole process.

I have talked in the past about how much more important it is to get the story right than it is to be first. In fact, even Robert Scoble has come around to my way of thinking. Having said that, I don't I would have acted differently than Ryan did. Engadget had a legitimate Apple email, coming from a source at Apple. They spoke with Apple PR. As soon as it was clear that the email they had was not accurate, they immediately printed a correction. Ryan takes the extra effort to explain and apologize further. We all make errors, how we deal with them is just as important and Ryan and Engadget have dealt with this properly and honorably I think.

Nevertheless, the Engadget tale is a cautionary one and I think there are some lessons to be learned. About the power of rumor. About how hard it is to retract something once it's out there (long after Engadget posted the correction, I was still getting calls asking for comment about the iPhone being delayed. in fact I was getting them as late as yesterday evening). And of course, the need for being correct before being first. I think the folks at Engadget did act properly and when they understood what was happening acted correctly. I will have no issues reading their stuff in the future. I know they have learned some hard lessons here.

Warren Buffet likes to say he doesn't like learning from his mistakes, he prefers to learn from the mistakes from others. In this case, there's plenty to be learned.