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Pre-order your Hype right here.

Christo van Gemert
By Christo van Gemert, ITWeb journalist
Johannesburg, 23 Sept 2010

This past week saw the launch of a highly anticipated device: the iPhone 4. Sadly, unlike the army of celebrities and bloggers who received exclusive invitations and complimentary units, I'm not here to gush about its supposed lovely display or newfound speed.

The companies in charge of bringing it to SA, MTN and Vodacom, each had a slightly different strategy when it came to introducing the device, but both were common in that they excluded the media.

In the weeks leading up to the midnight launch, on 21 September, there were murmurs about the iPhone 4 landing soon. Calls were made and people were invited in hushed tones. This was Vodacom's campaign. At no point was it officially made known that the invite was for the iPhone 4 launch. In fact, the phone's name was simply not mentioned and the invite was just for “an exciting launch”.

How this is meant to build hype, I don't know. Surely announcing a release date a week or two before the time would let people know, and give them time to put off their imminent contract renewal to wait for an iPhone 4. Maybe they were taking a leaf out of Apple's book. The fruity tech company loves being all secretive ahead of its announcements, but even when it unveiled the iPhone earlier this year, it gave a release date that was two weeks after the unveiling. European countries got a release date in advance, too. I was certainly given no heads-up to let my readers know about the launch.

Then there's MTN, which sent free iPhones to very many people, none of whom were me. Perhaps I'm a little bitter. I'll admit, it hurts seeing every blogger and celebrity get their hands on the coveted device before I even get to put it through an honest series of tests. But I don't want a freebie. I just want to do my job.

My job is to give you, dear reader, an honest take on a product's performance. I'm here to see what's bad about a “good” device, and find a noteworthy feature in a “bad” one. It's difficult keeping a balanced point of view. The test lab is actually an office desk, and years of experience are used in place of scientific instruments. After all, we want relative numbers and real-world figures.

It's not easy to maintain this balanced point of view, focussing on giving the facts, when you've just been gifted a really expensive toy. Humans are a bit greedy, and the initial reaction to offering criticism is “I daren't bite the hand that feeds me”. Enough praise on your blog or radio show about the company's generosity and your awesome new toy, and iPhone 5 will be on your desk next year. This is the unspoken agreement. And since you aren't in the media, it's technically not unethical, is it?

It's a PR dream, winning over the hearts of influential people. The undying praise from Twitter superstars and endless adulation on the drive-time airwaves are powerful weapons. The balanced and unbiased critique from the tech press pales in comparison to this publicity.

If there was never any intention to fulfil those pre-order requests, why harvest our information?

Christo van Gemert is ITWeb's consumer editor

Of course, I can't fault the companies involved for their now very successful marketing stunts. They've done exactly what they set out to do, but, at the same time, perhaps purposely, undermined the media that supports them the rest of the year.

Today, I will criticise MTN and Vodacom for their approach, but tomorrow I'll be expected to attend their regular old product launches, financial results or interview an executive. Sure, some (at my count, three) journalists did get review units, but the tech press is more than those and my respect for them doesn't make them the most important ones.

I could argue until I'm blue in the face about how I think what has happened is unethical. About how I think the press has been short-changed, or how the reliance on bloggers and celebrity endorsements will come back to bite somebody in the ass. I'm not a fortune-teller, though.

Instead, I'll relate a reason to be legitimately upset over the situation. Despite being a Vodacom subscriber for over 10 years, and having complied with the numerous communications to pre-order the infamous device, I was not invited to a midnight launch party. My “pre-order”? Well, the day after the night that was, I received a text message, saying that the device was “SOLD OUT on its debut”.

If there was never any intention to fulfil those pre-order requests, why harvest our information? Thanks a lot. First you hate my unbiased coverage, and now you hate my money, too?

I'd complain on Twitter, but I don't think I have enough followers for my negative opinion to make much of a difference, so it'll just fade into obscurity, much like real journalists probably will.

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