Deconstructing Delimiter: An article teardown

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blog We don’t always agree with criticism levelled at Delimiter, but we can take our knocks like everyone else. That’s why we particularly enjoyed this complete deconstruction of our commentary piece on Apple’s lacklustre iPhone 4S announcement last week. Published by Jonathon Oake, who used to work in newspapers and now appears to work at Warner Bros Studios, it’s a blow by blow of why Delimiter’s well … wrong on all counts. Enjoy:

“This whole article is making a tremendous song and dance around a simple, banal fact which ought to be obvious to anyone with business sense: the smartphone market is reaching maturity.

It wasn’t the worst I read; far from it. In fact I actually value Delimiter’s coverage, when I read it, and think the site’s operator, Renai LeMay, is perhaps the best tech journo in Australia. It just happens I didn’t rate this piece, and it is the closest to hand.”

Think of it kind of like a continuation of MacTalk founder Anthony Agius’ marvellous rant last week on what he believes was particularly poor coverage by the media of the iPhone 4S announcement.

Image credit: Bob Smith, royalty free

13 COMMENTS

  1. I have to agree with Jonathon Renai, I enjoy reading your articles but you do tend to confuse consumer views with the views of a tech head.

    • Well, I don’t really write for consumers, I write for tech-heads ;) And I have always maintained that tech-heads are the leading edge of the market which guides what everyone else will eventually do.

      • That’s fine that you write for us tech-heads and you are correct that we do tend to guide other peoples decisions but it doesn’t change the fact that quite often you make general statements like nobody/everybody likes/dislikes wants/doesn’t want ‘this piece of tech’ etc.
        You’re NBN articles are good example of this. I’m all for the NBN with some caveats but once again you seem to assume that everyone in Australia wants faster speeds, more quota etc when the majority of people focus on affordability.

        Like most readers on this site, I want my internet as fast as possible with unlimited quota but that doesn’t mean that the majority of Austrlians do.

        • “the majority of people focus on affordability”

          I don’t really agree with this. We’re a nation that loves pay TV, video game consoles, fast broadband, mobile phones and so on. We’re not broadly focused on affordability — we’re focused on features.

  2. Kudos for covering the criticism. I agreed with the majority of your article just not the sentiment.

    The Apple iPad/iPhone phenomenon IS done as an exciting new thing. It’s over. If it wasn’t they wouldn’t have gone with the modest relatively low key on-campus launch. They know it, your article highlighted it, and there’s no use Apple fans getting defensive about it.

    Apple are less worried about Android then growing their 5% overall handset marketshare.

    Apple are less worried about Android innovating and dominating than they are with Android copying them. They have already proven with the mac that you can make an amazingly successful business with less than 10% of global market share, so their KPI’s for success are more than just market share.

    Instead Apple will be focused on reliability, satisfaction, and brand loyalty that will keep people coming back time after time while other companies burn through product models and dubious feature sets that no-one uses.

    Funnily enough I think the iPhone 4 was more revolutionary than the 3GS because it was the first smartphone that didn’t drain the battery down any faster than a basic handset, and making the screen at that pixel density was ground breaking. Despite the faux drama of antenna gate (It has proven great reception with a cover) it was the first great phone that didn’t compromise basic functionality like battery life, and so it was the first smartphone that I ditched my basic Nokia for.

    It’s a testament to Apple that I don’t feel compelled to do the early upgrade to a 4S. My iPhone 4 will do just fine until 4G and the iPhone 5 rolls around.

    • Maybe the low key on campus launch was because they knew Jobs was dying.People keep talking Apple down and Apple just keep on proving them wrong.

    • With 5% overall handset market share and 10% of the computer market, Apple has turned itself into the largest tech company in the world. Imagine what it would be worth if they can double that market share. Android is also picking up in popularity but it is more of a grudge match on Google’s part and when it comes to sheer dollars generated, I’d say none of Apple’s competitors are even within spitting distance.

      We can rant and rave on both sides of the argument but the fact remains that Apple has given itself a license to print money, and will do so even more as the 4S hits the market. Current iPhone 4 users may not see reason to upgrade but most of them are still on contract for another year anyway. Apple designed the 4S for 3G users who were waiting for a reason to upgrade and now have it. Next year’s iPhone 5 will be the phone that all the 4 users who are whinging now, were waiting for. And so it goes…

      • my wife was waiting for the iphone 5, when the 4s came out she went and bought an HTC Sensation.

        My wife likes gadgets, but she isn’t “super techie”, so far she loves her android.

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