WHAT'S NEXT: INNOVATIONS IN NEWSPAPERS

The New York Times David Carr makes the point about how Consumer Reports i in the “credibility business”

“It was a big week for Consumer Reports and a reminder that media that is unsupported by advertising can often have an impact that more traditional publishing, or even the most tech-savvy, enterprises don’t. With 3.9 million subscribers to its magazine and 3.3 million paid subscribers to its Web site, Consumer Reports has a combined paid circulation of 7.2 million, up 33 percent since 2004.”

—

“If you can’t attack the message, attack the messenger. That’s a maxim of modern public relations, one that’s on display every day in Washington, on cable TV and, last Friday, on stage in Cupertino. But, with its long history and reputation for efficacy, Consumer Reports is the opposite of a juicy target.”

As Rob Curley said today in Twitter: Bless Consumer Reports!

From a story about the prospects of today’s iPhone 4 press conference:

Nine paragraphs, yes nine!, ending with the same “music” written by YUKARI IWATANI KANE and NIRAJ SHETH.

The nine “familiar” endings:

1. Apple Inc. released its newest iPhone despite internal concerns about its antenna reception, and gave wireless carriers far less time to test the phone than is typical, according to people familiar with the matter.

2. The Cupertino, Calif., company has called a news conference at its headquarters to discuss the issue Friday. Apple doesn’t plan to recall the phone, a person familiar with the matter said.

3. Apple engineers were aware of the risks associated with the new antenna design as early as a year ago, but Chief Executive Steve Jobs liked the design so much that Apple went ahead with its development, said another person familiar with the matter.

4. The electronics giant kept such a shroud of secrecy over the iPhone 4′s development that the device didn’t get the kind of real-world testing that would have exposed such problems in phones by other manufacturers, said people familiar with the matter.

5. The iPhones Apple sends to its carrier partners for testing are “stealth” phones that disguise a new device’s shape and some of its functions, people familiar with the matter said.

6. Apple gave its carrier partners far less time to test the iPhone 4 before its launch and gave them significantly fewer devices to test than other handset makers, people familiar with the matter said.

7. As development on the iPhone 4 proceeded, field testing would have been limited because of Apple’s emphasis on secrecy, said people familiar with the matter.

8. The testing process usually takes a minimum of 14 weeks. However, Apple flies in the face of this norm, handing over iPhone prototypes to carriers with much less time, people familiar with the matter said.

9. Later versions, including the iPhone 3G that was launched in 2008 and the iPhone 3GS last year, also didn’t hold a signal as well as other phones and experienced more dropped calls, people familiar with the matter said.”

Oh, by, that’s a world record.

Editors and real sources needed!

Bad news?

Send any press release or held a press conference on Fridays…

That’s the PR tradition.

So Apple not very active PR department (the fans do the work for them) announced the iPhone 4 press conference… for tomorrow Friday.

Why?

My feeling is that not because they want to hide the bad news (they are right now everywhere) or because they need to give time to the press to come to Cupertino (in less than 12 hours any American, European or Asian journalist will be able to show up in California) but… because they are trying to gain as much time as possible in order to fix the problem, organize any refund, respond to any recall or to have the supply chain ready with the new phones.

The press conference is going to be at 10 am (California time), so the markets in New York (2 pm) still will be open, and able to react to the news.

This is my take:

If the news were BAD, they will had organize the press conference AFTER the closing of the markets in Manhattan.

But because there will be GOOD news, they want Apple shares going up as soon as possible as the best response to the iPhone 4 crisis.

Right now the shares are going down, like in the past few days: from $261 on July 8 to less than $247 today.

So this is my advice: buy Apple shares tomorrow morning BEFORE the press conference and cash them in the evening.

And buy a new fixed iPhone 4.

Finally they got the message.

Apple will respond tomorrow to the iPhone 4 crisis with a press conference in Cupertino.

The options are:

1. Full recall (unlikely)

2. A free rubber case (no way!)

3. A check (for what?)

4. New and better version coming (for sure)

5. Sorry (yes, very sorry)

This has been a mess.

Who to blame?

Steve Jobs.

He is the boss.

He is iGod!

People still expect miracles.

But newspapers cannot, a must not, expect any miracles from Cupertino.

What the Appple iSlate means for newspapers is this:

1. You need to embrace multimedia content production and multiplatform distribution.

2. You must be where, when and how your readers want you, or you will miss them.

3. You need to reach new readers, more audiences and unique communities if you want to stay necessary and relevant.

4. Your advertisers want more targeted messages.

5. You need a 24/7 not a 16/5 fully integrated multimedia newsroom operation.

6. You content output must be better, faster and more unique than ever.

7. Words matter but WebVideo rules.

8. Brilliant design presentation will be a must.

9. Typographical excellence will make the difference.

10. And it’s time to invest in quality content, digital creativity, multimedia talent, and innovation.

Welcome to the future!