'Batterygate': Apple's deathly silence, more transparency needed?
Summary: Apple finally made contact with the outside world over the battery bug in iOS 5. Issues over the company's silence and transparency have been called into question.
Last night, Apple broke radio silence and admitted there was a battery-related fault with iOS 5, the company's latest mobile operating system.
But in comparison, while 'Antennagate' may have been a storm in a teacup, 'Batterygate' is only reminiscent of, rather than directly comparable to. Many Apple fans, consumers and end-users remain frustrated, and patience is beginning to wain as the company maintained its wall of silence.
(Modified from original — Source: Apple)
To repeat what I said earlier this week, how Apple and Steve Jobs personally handled 'Antennagate' showed more about the elusive company than any other speech, action or product release in recent times. It publicly outed its disaster recovery plan, and the company showed its weaknesses.
Jobs took to the stage to greet press within a fortnight of the iPhone 4 release, and only days after 'Antennagate' perpetuated into near-widespread hysteria. The media were, on the most part, guilty of this. An explanation was given, after a short wall of silence from the company, but an overwhelming majority felt that the solution it had given its customers was a satisfactory one.
But by allowing the company to bleed, so to speak, Apple healed stronger.
Apple, once again, reaffirmed its "love for its customers". No other company can rightfully command this respect from its smartphone or tablet using flock.
But three weeks since the iPhone 4S launch, and the general availability of iOS 5, the mysterious battery bug has left customers questioning where their mothership has gone. After weeks of silent denial, it appeared to make a strategically timed statement last night.
As a swan drifts and glides along the surface of the river, its legs are frantically thrashing under the water. Apple may have ignored its customers, but it has not ignored their cries.
iOS 5 users continue to flood the Apple support communities with cries for help, showing disenchantment and frustration:
"I just got a new iPhone 4S after having my old 3GS for over 2 years. I truly believed that the battery life was going to make a real difference with the new phone. Absolutely not! It is the same or a little worse than the 2 year old phone. I am really annoyed with the new phone."
And others:
"Why don't they offer the option to downgrade to ios4? APPLE GIVE ME MY PHONE BACK!!!!!"
Dissecting the forums and views from users, some are reaching out directly to Apple whilst others offer peer-support.
Within a week of 'Antennagate' becoming talk of the town, Apple had to contend with the "accusations", while the company "wanted to find out the truth", as Jobs said in an interview with AllThingsD earlier this year.
It wasn't ignoring the issue. The company was working behind the scenes to get things right -- at least, get things right based on what Apple's ethos and beliefs would allow it to. Instead of firing out a press release every other day to say, "We're still working on this", and cluttering the newswires with prolonged words that over time simply grate on the customer, it gathered its collective thoughts and only commented when it felt it was right to.
But because of Apple's corporate secrecy, one has to wonder whether its trademark silence is damaging its reputation, by focusing on the 'wrong' self-image issue.
Either, Apple can uncharacteristically speak out and admit that something was wrong -- as was seen in 'Antennagate', or the company can remain silent, issue a short statement to one news publication as it did last night, and hope that it will suffice.
In the case of Apple's location-tracking issue, the company rolled out a fix within two weeks, and while remained relatively tight-lipped about the alleged 'bug', it highlighted it and moved on.
Historically, Apple has been slightly slower to the party than on previous occasions. But nevertheless, it has said what it needs to in a short, sharp burst of public relations -- a rare move to give an unscheduled media response -- to appease the masses at least on a short-term basis.
Ultimately, it boils down to: should Apple have acknowledged the battery bug a week ago? Frankly, I don't think it matters. Timing may be everything, and waiting for a diagnosis is often harder than the treatment itself. But the company has said what it needs to now, and retrospectively 'Batterygate' will be nothing short of a blip on Apple's timeline.
Suffice to say, transparency would have been nice. But Apple, unlike others, remains 'royal' in its stance: dignified, to the point, and moves on from controversy swiftly and quietly.
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Talkback
RE: 'Batterygate': Apple's deathly silence, more transparency needed?
RE: 'Batterygate': Apple's deathly silence, more transparency needed?
How did Gizmodo's created "Antennagate" hurt Apple?
Oh right, it had 0 impact except for the haters that hate Apple to start with. So they lost the sales of people that would never buy an Apple product. No big loss.
RE: 'Batterygate': Apple's deathly silence, more transparency needed?
RE: 'Batterygate': Apple's deathly silence, more transparency needed?
RE: 'Batterygate': Apple's deathly silence, more transparency needed?
RE: 'Batterygate': Apple's deathly silence, more transparency needed?
How is saying "We are looking into the issue and will release a statement after we are certain what is happening" going to create embarrassing backflips later?
It is obvious that the company is looking into the issue, so there is no ..
So they took their time to establish that the problem is real and that it is software-related, not hardware-related. Once they found this out, they made statement that there will be solution in few weeks.
Right. Because acknowledging a problem exists
keeps people needing a phone from buying an iPhone.
A problem with the phone will evenyually get fixed [i]sometime[/i] in the future, but lost sales due to the public knowing the product is defective can't get "fixed" until the 2 year contract they signed getting another phone expires.
Better to get as many sales as possible today, worry about the technical issues tommorow.
After all, at that point they have those customers for 2 years, they now have time to fix the problem when they get around to it.
Public knows that very little quantity of users experience problems with ..
RE: 'Batterygate': Apple's deathly silence, more transparency needed?
How can it be obvious they are looking into the issue if they deny such an issue exists? The purpose of such a statement is that they are actively correcting problems out of their customers' best interest. Not saying anything says either "we deny a problem exists" or "we don't care enough about our existing customers to let them know we are working to address their needs".
Exactly, DeRSSS
the less the public knows, or believe they know, is better for Apple.
If Apple (or any company) talks (or doesn't talk) a large scale issue into a small one, they have the customer right where they need them - at their stores.
So PR is the priority now, not the actual scale of the problem.
If by PR it's meant that "The less the [b]Public[/b] knows about the problem, the better our [b]Retail[/b] sales will be, then thats a real good indicator that remaining silent is the [i]best[/i] course of action for them.
RE: 'Batterygate': Apple's deathly silence, more transparency needed?
RE: 'Batterygate': Apple's deathly silence, more transparency needed?
RE: 'Batterygate': Apple's deathly silence, more transparency needed?
RE: 'Batterygate': Apple's deathly silence, more transparency needed?
This is a huge miscalculation on their part of just how badly iOS 5 with all of its automatic notifications, automatic location services uploading, and iCloud synchronizations is going to eat up the battery life of their mobile appliances, degrade performance when these clandestine operations are in progress, and potentially create unexpected costs for users as their service providers begin implementing data caps and metered services.
Apple is and always has been the "Wizard of Oz". Time for their loyal following to wake up and leave "Munchkin Land".
RE: 'Batterygate': Apple's deathly silence, more transparency needed?
And Apple CONTINUES to use their customers as Beta Testers.
RE: 'Batterygate': Apple's deathly silence, more transparency needed?
RE: 'Batterygate': Apple's deathly silence, more transparency needed?
Here's what you do:
Turn off location services unless you need it.
Turn off iCloud until the fix is out.
Turn off auto time until fix is out.
Enjoy a full day plus with your iPhone 4 and 4s... geez you guys are ridiculous.