[Frank Castle]

Media bias is nothing new. I struggled against it daily when I wrote for InfoWorld. It was a constant battle to break through the pro-Apple bias being pushed down from the Executive Editor, Galen Gruman. I was glad when I got out.

Note: Since my departure, Galen is exercising even more control over the publication. So it's no surprise that InfoWorld's mobile and tablet coverage has devolved into one continuous Apple love letter. Just goes to show how one biased person in a position of authority can skew an entire publication's focus/perspective.

Randall C. Kennedy (yeah, that one)

Galen is definately one of the more biased pro Apple guys out there and while I enjoy his articles he often doesn't understand enterprise issues, the holes Apple has in their products (from an enterprise perspective) and acknowledge there are better options depending of needs. I call him out often.

ZDNet and CNet are basically Apple publications as is most of the Techblog world. I never got the cult of Mac crowd as being an Apple user since the IIe through my last G5 I always found Macs lacking compared to windows. Great GUI and some nice stuff but there is always something missing / lacking where you need something else (or a newer device) to leverage.

Frank Castle / Aka MobileAdmin

[GreekPlaya]

i notice the same things...theres a lot of hate on blackberry their phones and tablets everyone seems to think apple is where its at (especially c-net) but RIM is the future they have the best quality and best costumer service to date!

[peter9477]

Small CNet anecdote...

Back in the early fall, just when the PlayBooks first went on sale, I popped into my local Staples to ask when they would have the sale pricing since it wasn't in their flyer yet.

The owe-so-knowledgeable tech guy was summoned, and he told me the PlayBook was being cancelled and the store probably wouldn't have it on sale. Aside from his obvious ignorance about his own chain's plans, he was quick to up the ante: "Yeah, I saw it on CNet last week. They said RIM was discontinuing the product."

I could only grimace, shake my head, and tell them the reality, but it was a lost cause. They knew the truth and facts wouldn't sway them from it. (By the way, the next week his store had them on sale at $299, like everyone else. Doofus.)

CNet is clearly an enabler of ignorance and bears most of the blame for broadcasting such misinformation in the first place.

[GreekPlaya]

@peter9477

it just shows you how biased cnet is to RIM, they are to caught up in the apple hype. Apple isn't going to last much longer they just do not have the technology to keep up with the real future (i.e. RIM and Andriod products) the last time i checked Andriod had 52% of the app market which shows you that andriod is the future. RIM saw this as a business opportunity obviously and strock and is getting into the andriod apps. In my opinion RIM is the future.

[conix67]

@peter9477

it just shows you how biased cnet is to RIM, they are to caught up in the apple hype. Apple isn't going to last much longer they just do not have the technology to keep up with the real future (i.e. RIM and Andriod products) the last time i checked Andriod had 52% of the app market which shows you that andriod is the future. RIM saw this as a business opportunity obviously and strock and is getting into the andriod apps. In my opinion RIM is the future.

Apple never had any real new technology others didn't have. They just made well packaged products that sell. Their strength is software, especially OS, and really focus interface design - both looks and functionality.

I don't know what you mean by Android App market share of 52%. Android can become a future if executed right. Other players such as RIM with Playbook, can still put a dent on the Android market share. While massively successful, Android based products are still hit and miss, and these impressions are coming from long time users of both iOS and Android products.

It's not clear how far Apple can extend their lead and success with almost every product they launch, but at some point they will see failure but it doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon. Look at iPhone 4S, it's actually selling very well although every media presented negative reviews.

[GreekPlaya]

i don't see a reason why the 4s is selling so big...theres hardly a difference between the 4s and the 4. RIM has differences in their phones which makes each one unique. see thats a reason to stay with RIM products and away from apple they have one phone just some different names and a few different features

[up488]

I gave up on CNet years ago. They never have anything good to say about anything

[omniusovermind]

C-Net has always succled at the teet of Microsoft and in recent years Apple. We know the potential of this tablet.

cnet has always been viewed skeptically as a credible, knowledgeable tech reviewer by more informed people. they're little more than a big banner advertising website disguised as a tech site. They're so bad my Peerblock won't let me on their site when running in html filter mode

[easydoesit99]

Well in defence of cnet, OS2 isn't available yet so how are they supposed to review it. Geez.

[bluecougar]

@peter9477

it just shows you how biased cnet is to RIM, they are to caught up in the apple hype. Apple isn't going to last much longer they just do not have the technology to keep up with the real future (i.e. RIM and Andriod products) the last time i checked Andriod had 52% of the app market which shows you that andriod is the future. RIM saw this as a business opportunity obviously and strock and is getting into the andriod apps. In my opinion RIM is the future.

I think your point of view might be a little skewed, last time I checked everybody is playing catchup to Apple, i.e. smartphones, music players, tablets, apps (preferred publishing platform), music sales, etc.... Its ok to not like their products but to say they cant keep up is just not true. This is not to say things cant change.

ps cnet kinda blows in my opinion.

[3lionsbecks]

i don't see a reason why the 4s is selling so big...theres hardly a difference between the 4s and the 4. RIM has differences in their phones which makes each one unique. see thats a reason to stay with RIM products and away from apple they have one phone just some different names and a few different features

and millions and millions of sales figures and huge market share that is increasing every year.

How's RIM doing on those fronts?

[slalom]

cNet gets a ton of traffic. Too bad its content shows up so high in google search AND its part of the anti-RIM conspiricy (endgadget, bgr, etc.)

[Dukey Avalon]

i don't see a reason why the 4s is selling so big...theres hardly a difference between the 4s and the 4. RIM has differences in their phones which makes each one unique. see thats a reason to stay with RIM products and away from apple they have one phone just some different names and a few different features

Well one difference is that the iPhones tend to work smoothly and intelligently. RIM's phones... frankly don't. I have a Torch 9800 and with the latest software it's buggy and stalls frequently.

Regarding cNet, I can understand why they haven't mentioned the OS2 release. Here are a couple of reasons :

- They probably didn't get access to the OS2 so how could they properly review it?
- How many Playbook users exist, is it worth writing this story over another story?
- Why is a 10 month old bungled tablet suddenly front page news?

I sincerely hope OS2 is a home run (for my sake and all of our sake) and then these media outlets will have little or no choice but to report it. But if RIM's recently history is a guide, I can understand their ignoring the story.

[jvictor77]

and millions and millions of sales figures and huge market share that is increasing every year.

How's RIM doing on those fronts?

RIM is doing excellently on those fronts. There are many ways I could put this, but I'll settle for this: Consumers in the U.S. and North America in general need to realize that there is a 'rest of the world' out there and, as big as the U.S. market is...the rest is bigger - and RIM has a healthy slice of it!