So here's a mystery: why did the iPhone, one of the most attention-grabbing unveilings of recent years, not make the cover of a single major magazine? Apple, when it has a sexy new product to show, typically approaches big consumer magazines such as Time, or a business magazines such as Fortune, and this time was no different. The deal is this: the magazine wins access to the product, and Steve Jobs and other Apple executives, and exclusivity; in return, Apple's chosen one puts Cupertino's latest sensation on its front cover, and agrees to an embargo even, in some cases, adjusting the publication schedule so that the magazine hits newsstands as Steve Jobs gets up on stage to wow the Macworld fanboys. So what went wrong this time? Five theories, after the jump.

Betsy Morris, the profile writer Fortune first proposed to Katie Cotton in Apple's press relations department, left for Conde Nast's new business magazine, Portfolio, in October.
Fortune's David Kirkpatrick, her replacement on the iPhone assignment, would have been obliged to bring up Apple's stock option scandal. As the extent of Steve Jobs' involvement became clear, the gentler questions likely from a consumer magazine may have seemed more attractive.
Time Magazine, the largest of the general interest magazines, was going through its own upheaval just as Apple was gearing up for the Macworld announcement. The magazine, which had traditionally come out at the beginning of the week, moved its on-sale day to Friday — the week before Macworld. Time's Lev Grossman did get a sneak peek of the iPhone, but only a few days before, we hear, and his piece ran slightly snarky, and inside the magazine. Something went wrong with those negotiations.
Alternatively, Apple really didn't know until late in the proceedings whether Steve Jobs would go ahead with an iPhone announcement at Macworld. If the mystery product had been merely the Apple TV set-top box, already heavily trailed, none of the magazines would have been able to justify making it a cover story.
Another theory: the magazine exclusive doesn't matter as much as it once did, nor is the story so easily managed, and Apple finally realized that. Indeed, despite a showcase magazine story, Steve Jobs' new cellphone received massive and largely adulatory coverage. The challenge: controlling, not the announcement itself, but the expectations which will build, frustrated, for the five months until the Jesusphone is finally available to the public.

1:22 PM on Fri Jan 19 2007
By Nick Denton
1,560 views
9 comments

Comments

DrD at 01:41 PM on 01/19/07
Reply by Email
*

You think that maybe with the InterWeb and all that i-stuff, that a magazine cover shot was:

a) Not really of any importance in a connected world
b) Way too much of a potential security leak for the secret project

Magazines are becoming somewhat irrelevant for current stories, as the Web is so much faster at getting them to your attention.

Still good for in-depth stuff and comment, but cr@p for news.
brif at 02:28 PM on 01/19/07
Reply by Email
*

@DrD

I agree. Also, the TV coverage of the iPhone was HUGE. So that, coupled with the blanket web coverage, was probably enough to satisfy J_bs.

I think something overlooked though is the fact that an in-depth magazine piece would HAVE to discuss the possibility of trademark infringement, and I can't imagine Apple wanting that to get any more pub than it's already gotten...
jcc123 at 03:26 PM on 01/19/07
Reply by Email
*

Ah, who cares? Jobs presentation of the iPhone was like the climax, do we really need to still look at it afterwards? I mean, what do you want to do next, cuddle?
rfayed at 03:36 PM on 01/19/07
Reply by Email
*

uh...because the iphone is weak?
huygir at 03:48 PM on 01/19/07
Reply by Email
*

What rfayed said... wasn't worthy. After all the wait and hype, it isn't really next gen. And by the time it's available it will have serious (probably more affordable) competition.
x23 at 09:04 PM on 01/19/07
Reply by Email
*

because it was *too* awesome.
Whocares at 04:52 PM on 01/20/07
Reply by Email
*

The only thing amazing about the iPhone (since mp3+touchscreen+phone is nothing new) is that Apple is developing it. The fact its completely touch screen scares me in regards to its functionality.

I had a phone from Europe last year, the motorola A1010.. It was completely touch screen and could do about anything even GPS Navigation right out of the box. The reason I dumped it? No keyboard/all touch screen.

Besides, I don't think theres a single sole out there (atleast in their target demographic) that doesn't know about the iPhone allready.
iamnewhere at 06:07 PM on 01/20/07
Reply by Email
*

The iPhone is not for sale, not available even to demo at retail outlets, and possibly not complete. Having to conform to a long list of "don't try that"s would result in an article that offered no advantage over publicly available information, and could actually anger readers.

Perhaps iPhones will reach the media well after the keynote but somewhat before they are available for purchase.
JonathanSalemBaskin at 08:34 PM on 01/21/07
Reply by Email
*

because print media covers are glorified envelopes, and i'm not too sure that apple ever goes after the pre-release sharing of product info required to get that type of coverage. it's just too risky (re leaks) and, fundamentally, it doesn't need it. think of all the info shared on the qt by all the gigantic companies exhibiting at ces, which was concurrent with macworld...and do we remember any of it? nope. covers don't matter to many people outside of the pr industry.