Apple Stomps on the Conversation

By now you know, that there are some serious questions about the new iPhone 4 and its external wraparound antenna.

Perhaps the most damning of all was the credible and neutral Consumer Reports flunking it on reception tests that were reconfirmed by Engadget,

I have been following this issue rather closely. As far as the product itself goes, I am still among the many who tend to believe that this new iPhone 4 is the best iPhone ever offered. To me the revelation is that the crappy reception we have all so often blamed on AT&T was probably being caused by the iPhone and lying reception bars covered it up.

It seems that each damning report on the technology is offset by someone else.

This morning Marco Tabini tweeted me:

" Have you wondered how CR measured a *reception* problem w/o attaching wires to the phone? I have: http://⇥.ws/kf."

I read through his post saw a credible attack on the magazine's testing methods. It increased  my doubts of the problem's magnitude.

What we have is a legitimate controversy over a significant new product in the hottest of technology market segments. We have it at a time of mounting competition equaled by growing demand.

Any way you position it, Apple has tons depending upon it's success. And as the conversation ignites and amplifies, what is Apple doing? It is stonewalling and suppressing the words of its customers.

If they are actually listening to the volume and tone of conversation, then they are doing a better job of keeping it a secret than they did of keeping the iPhone 4 itself a secret.

Reports are up and have been reconfirmed that Apple forums--or "discussionsare" as the company calls them--is deleting all conversations about the Consumer Reports piece.

Now, Apple is not the most social of companies as you probably already know. But these discussions are the closest they come. I've used them and found them to be usually helpful. I have hoped that their success would open the door further into social media forays for Apple.

Instead this unilateral censorship is extending command and control policies into terrain where you don't usually see it. Oh es, companies review forums for appropriate behavior. You'll probably get your post deleted if you assert the CEO is having sex with a lower species, for example.

But users discussing issues and concerns with other users and perhaps a company representative is what forums have been about for better than 20 years.

I have been critical of Apple in recent months, because of tactics that seem extremely selfish and heavy-handed. And yet this type of stomping on legitimate customer voices sound more to me like the Chinese government than a company that built itself as an underdog champion who made cool stuff for independent people.

There are those who have been calling this the end of Apple Computer. That is silliness. Apple customers for the most part remain loyal and happy with the products. The company still has a long, long way to fall before the end can even be seen.

But they seem to be falling with accelerated velocity lately and I hope they veer off course before they do smash upon the pavements of Cupertino.

Lost sales may remain quite small. But Apple Computer would be wise to follow the Tipping Point subtitle advice: Little things can make a big difference and they can do it very, very quickly.