Apple is unlike any other company in the world when it comes to press relations. Most companies have to beg for coverage and shower journalists with free trips and gear, but Apple is known for giving a notoriously cold shoulder to the vast majority of publications. If you’re not on the shortlist, then you get no help from PR and certainly no sneak peaks at future products.
According to a new report in The Wall Street Journal, some recent changes within Apple PR “represent a recognition that competition is heating up:”
Apple communications staff have recently sent reporters more favorable third-party reports about the company, including a study predicting that by 2014, Apple will be as accepted in the enterprise as Microsoft is today. Apple, and indeed virtually all its competitors, send reporters favorable studies from time to time. But the five reports Apple has sent since the start of the year, mostly related to mobile market share, represent more than recent months.
The kind of research studys mentioned above get sent out to publications all the time, and we cover some of them here at Cult of Mac from time to time. It’s a different matter when Apple sends out links. It’s as if Apple PR is quietly nudging the press to cover reports that paint Apple in favorable light. *GASP*
Things are definitely different at Apple since Tim Cook became CEO. A full press release was issued alongside the release of iOS 6.1 last week. Apple has never accompanied a minor iOS update with its own press release. But that doesn’t mean that Apple is just trying to generate empty hype. 9 press releases were released by Apple in January 2012 while only 6 were released in January 2013.
The most interesting part of the Journal’s story is the idea that Apple PR is reacting to competition that is “heating up.” AAPL has taken quite the hit in recent months. People are waiting for the company to make its next dent in the universe. Apple executives always say that they don’t worry about market share, but perhaps that mindset has started to shift in recent months. The Apple that forgets about making the best products in the world and chases after market share will be the Apple that ultimately fails.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
