quote:

It's been a number of years since an Apple PR staffer secretly admitted to one of our reporters that The Register was on a blacklist.

We also learned that they were under strict instructions never to admit to the blacklist – presumably because it would make one of the world's largest companies look, you know, pathetically petty.

And so, for a decade now, we have played a game where we ask Apple's US office for review products or to attend launches or go to events and they respond with silly expressions like "I'm sorry, but we cannot accommodate your request" or "all the seats are taken" or the current favorite "you are on our media waitlist."

Back in June, I decided it was time to stop playing the game. Or, more accurately, play a different, more persistent game in which we encourage Apple to either get over itself and kill our blacklisting or simply admit it and stop the pretense.

Today – on the day Apple will reveal its iPhone 7 to the press in San Francisco – we present that effort:

...

As to the question why The Reg is blacklisted by Apple, well, who knows for sure.

Perhaps it was the fact that our story, including the headline "APPLE: SCREW YOU, BRITS", was read out in the London High Court as evidence when Samsung complained about Apple's mealy-mouthed apology. Perhaps it was our spirited coverage of its deceased cofounder. Or that we pointed out that HomeKit isn't happening any time soon. Or Jagwyre. Or maybe Apple execs just don't like Dickens' Great Expectations.

The truth though is that large tech companies, especially in Silicon Valley, often use access to their events and their executives as a way to force positive coverage of themselves. If you write one bad thing about them, they threaten to stop talking to you. If you ignore the warnings, they blacklist you.

Unsurprisingly, The Register is not all that flexible when it comes to tech companies trying to intimidate us into writing nothing but positive press coverage. The question you should be asking yourself is: does that mean that everyone who is invited to Apple's events can be relied upon to self-censor any negative comments? (Quick clue: the answer's yes.) ®

Skeesix posted:

Apple exec leads a reporter through a months-long email exchange to get into the iPhone 7 launch with numerous unanswered emails and weaselings-out. There is apparently a for-real blacklist.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/07/reg_effort_to_attend_iphone_7_launch/

zen death robot posted:

I ordered 2 128gb hugephones, black for me and rose gold for the wife, tmobile charged me $0 for the privilege and credited me $400 on our current phones thanks tmo

fits my needs posted:

OH MY GOD WHY IS APPLE MAKING US BUY A NEW CHARGER THAT IS INFINITELY SUPERIOR TO THE OLD CHARGER I ALREADY HAVE THE OLD CHARGER THIS IS INSANE

OH MY GOD I CAN'T USE MY OLD HEADPHONES WITH MY NEW IPHONE I MEAN I ALREADY HAVE AN IPHONE THAT I CAN USE MY OLD HEADPHONES WITH BUT SINCE I JUST ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO BUY THE NEW ONE APPLE IS MAKING ME BUY IT THIS IS INSANE

For gently caress's sake. Hold on to your God-damned 6 if you're so worried about this completely unimportant, innocuous poo poo that doesn't matter one loving whit to anyone, anywhere, for any reason. Oh no I have to spend $17 on some bluetooth headphones and I can't charge while listening, art is dead. Get a hobby or something.

Dodoman posted:

Dodoman posted:

Dodoman posted:

Dodoman posted:

Skeesix posted:

Apple exec leads a reporter through a months-long email exchange to get into the iPhone 7 launch with numerous unanswered emails and weaselings-out. There is apparently a for-real blacklist.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/07/reg_effort_to_attend_iphone_7_launch/

GameCube posted:

lmao http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/07/reg_effort_to_attend_iphone_7_launch/?mt=1473281987450

prefect posted:

can you also plug in a charging cable at the same time, or does that break things?

fits my needs posted:

OH MY GOD WHY IS APPLE MAKING US BUY A NEW CHARGER THAT IS INFINITELY SUPERIOR TO THE OLD CHARGER I ALREADY HAVE THE OLD CHARGER THIS IS INSANE

OH MY GOD I CAN'T USE MY OLD HEADPHONES WITH MY NEW IPHONE I MEAN I ALREADY HAVE AN IPHONE THAT I CAN USE MY OLD HEADPHONES WITH BUT SINCE I JUST ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO BUY THE NEW ONE APPLE IS MAKING ME BUY IT THIS IS INSANE

For gently caress's sake. Hold on to your God-damned 6 if you're so worried about this completely unimportant, innocuous poo poo that doesn't matter one loving whit to anyone, anywhere, for any reason. Oh no I have to spend $17 on some bluetooth headphones and I can't charge while listening, art is dead. Get a hobby or something.

PleasureKevin posted:

my iPhone 7 better work in Japan.

GameCube posted:

please source your quotes. i want to witness this person's meltdown myself

Wheany posted:

fits my needs posted:

I've been thinking about this and Apple really is uniquely suited to cut out poo poo whose time has passed but which everybody still loves and make otherwise unpopular decisions, because everyone fuckin' loves them and will defend whatever and get in fist-fights with each other because they're so eager to buy everything. And then they get credit for being visionaries. When other companies make sacrifices in the name of progress everyone always stays in the laughing-at-them-forever phase until they apologize and roll it back.

This also grants them freedom to make this progress in really lovely ways w/r/t their proprietary technology (luckily they were never able to force FireWire on everybody so maybe the Lightning-headphones thing will blow over)

prefect posted:

can you also plug in a charging cable at the same time, or does that break things?

zen death robot posted:

7+

PleasureKevin posted:

just once it would be nice if people didn't have a stroke when apple switches to a new technology. i mean there is a lot historically to suggest they know what they're doing and have good intentions.

but perhaps all the controversy is a benefit since more people hear about it, and those who understand the change may end up buying it.

fits my needs posted:

I've been thinking about this and Apple really is uniquely suited to cut out poo poo whose time has passed but which everybody still loves and make otherwise unpopular decisions, because everyone fuckin' loves them and will defend whatever and get in fist-fights with each other because they're so eager to buy everything. And then they get credit for being visionaries. When other companies make sacrifices in the name of progress everyone always stays in the laughing-at-them-forever phase until they apologize and roll it back.

This also grants them freedom to make this progress in really lovely ways w/r/t their proprietary technology (luckily they were never able to force FireWire on everybody so maybe the Lightning-headphones thing will blow over)

Sagebrush posted:

I hope that the UN passes a resolution that the lightning connector is now a public good and any company can include it in any product for free

loquacius posted:

I made this post and I stand by it

At this point I think the only really bad thing about the change is that they're using their own proprietary port, because it's basically guaranteeing that the Digital Headphones of the Future will be device-specific instead of any headphone plugging into any device like this wonderful golden age of headphones we live in which is now coming to a close

Unless Apple's fans finally, finally turn on them which is the only way we get to keep our old headphones but not likely

loquacius posted:

At this point I think the only really bad thing about the change is that they're using their own proprietary port, because it's basically guaranteeing that the Digital Headphones of the Future will be device-specific instead of any headphone plugging into any device like this wonderful golden age of headphones we live in which is now coming to a close

PleasureKevin posted:

bluetooth is not their own proprietary port

gargle chome posted:

jfc i skipped 20 pages and the topic is the same

if the headphone jack being gone is so criminal to you i think there are 5(?) other phones you can choose from that still have the jack

BangersInMyKnickers posted:

lol android is rushing to drop theirs too

BangersInMyKnickers posted:

lol android is rushing to drop theirs too