Great Moments In Pr, apple, frank shaw, microsoft, waggener edstrom

Microsoft PR guy on Stevenote: Meh.

Frank Shaw runs Microsoft PR at Waggener Edstrom. And he's got some fighting words in reaction to Apple CEO Steve Jobs's Macworld keynote. "The event and news today made me wonder if the Apple PR model of hold and surprise was wearing thin," Shaw wrote on his blog. Oh no he didn't? Oh yes he did.

Shaw writes that Apple's "concept of holding news, building expectations and then unveiling a massive surprise" usually works — certainly it did with the iPhone —but "this recent Macworld? Not so much."

He complains that:

"Upon further review" frenzied fans will disdain the MacBook Air
The Apple TV update was "lipstick on a pig."
That the "closed, underpowered" MacBook Air will be a market failure.

He concludes:

There is little room for events like today in that world. Apple stepped to the plate today, IMHO, and hit ... .a single. The company won't be up to bat again for a while ... .if you are only up a few times a year, you better hit some home runs.

Like Microsoft did with the Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000, Frankie?

11:40 AM on Wed Jan 23 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
1,198 views
7 comments

Comments

xint at 11:59 AM on 01/23/08
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Franky will never learn.
Mike Snow at 12:18 PM on 01/23/08
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I'm not sure why the mouse matters to this discussion. Nobody ever expected a mouse to be anything more than a practice swing in the on-deck circle. I'm sure you could come up with better examples of Microsoft duds if you didn't feel obligated to pump up the pageviews on your previous pieces.
sample032 at 12:26 PM on 01/23/08
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Connectedness Index: 74
Brought to you by Acura TSX

Didn't Microsoft slaughter PS3 in December and almost match Nintendo's sales?

Decent, but not spectacular, results beat speculation.
fxshaw at 01:18 PM on 01/23/08
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Frankie? Francis, FX, FXS, Francois, Frank, all those I've been called, but Frankie? :)

More substantively, my point was that *if* you rely on homeruns, you better hit it out of the park. I'm pretty sure the mouse was a single...

fxs (aka, i guess, "frankie")
DonV at 01:20 PM on 01/23/08
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I think he's absolutely correct. Apple is losing the shine a bit now that their big announcement is an overpriced laptop.
macbeach at 02:22 PM on 01/23/08
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"Glass House"

Never was a blog so aptly named.

Well the Steve-note was bad. Incredibly so.

When Apple stumbles, of late a rarity, it is worthy of mention.

Microsoft has been in mid-stumble for so long nobody notices any more.

If Apple is "lipstick on a pig" (whatever that means) then Microsoft must be "shit on a pig". No, "shit on a pig with trichinosis, and everyone eaten it and is going to die a slow death while Bill Gates laughs and reminds you there is no guaranty on the product except a pro-rated refund."

Yeah, that's it. If I were Microsoft I'd be thinking about changing my name and moving to another country. Otherwise having PR people is a waste of money.
BobDope at 09:48 AM on 01/24/08
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Steve Jobs could take a crap on the stage, GG Allin style, and the Apple faithful would still make Ballmer throws chairs jokes instead of Jobs craps on stage jokes.