God knows Steve has disagreed with just about everything I have written here on MobilitySite, and that is great. He keeps me on my toes, he challanges me, he keeps me honest…that is the way this whole process is supposed to work.

That’s a good attitude. As long as disagreement is expressed without making it personal and backed up with good reasoning, people should take it the way you do.

However, I don’t disagree about everything you write. (I’m agreeing with you above. :D) When I agree with somebody, I just don’t feel much need to post unless I have something to add. “Me, too” posts are boring.

Personally, I don’t mind news with no opinions, especially if it’s not something I’ve seen 100 other places. But opinions are what keep a site interesting. I bet if you look at trends, opinion posts will end up with more comments per post than straight news posts.

Steve

So even if the iPhone is the last phone, it’s just not for me. Taking all that in consideration, I just do not follow any news relative to iPhone unless there is a software for iPhone that I like to check to see what is going on within that field.

Beyond that, can you honestly say that you feel Apple news is underreported on the net?

Z

This is MobilitySite, Apple makes one of the most popular smartphones – a successful mobile device – they report unexpectedly positive results, and not one story on MobilitySite about that particular piece of news? Japan’s banking crisis had more coverage this week on MobilitySite than the iPhone’s quarterly results?

Sure, I understand that MobilitySite is more interested in WM devices, and apparently a lot of the editors here dislike Apple for some reason, but surely this news deserved more coverage than a throwaway line in the conference call?

I guess the takeaway here, guys, is that you have Apple customers among your readers (though when it comes to phones, I happen to use a WM phone myself), and at least if I see something that seems over-the-top biased, I’ll call you on it. And if you are posting just to Apple bash, knowing that you’ll get a lot of comments, isn’t that what we call trolling?

At MobilitySite we have been working hard to the last few month to include MORE opinions and more original posts. Almost nothing is posted here that doesn;t include the viewpoint of the author and that is by design. Chris has worked hard to seek out writers with strong, informed opinions who have a wide variety of interests and viewpoints regarding mobile tech. No money is being made off this, we write for the love of the art and an appretiation of technology…and we are GOING to have opinions. Many times, you are going to disagree with those opinions. That’s what blogging is. Why would you want a boring old newspaper in place of a lively, civil argument about cool gadgets?

Bring on the debate, I’ll make popcorn.

Z

In my opinion, if you aren’t able to write an unbiased article, you shouldn’t have your works published. There’s a time and place for opinions and attitude, but when people are looking for unbiased information, check them at the door.

For somebody who comes off as strongly opinionated as you do, that’s a surprising thing to say.

First, I think Frank has written many unbiased articles.

Second, who said people here are only looking for unbiased information? You? And where is this place for opinions and attitudes? Relegated to the forums? Why?

Finally, saying somebody shouldn’t have their works published because they’re biased pretty much violates freedom of the press. While this is a private site, and isn’t really required to provide freedom, Chris has decided that Frank has something worthwhile to say. If you don’t like it, you know where the Close button is.

Steve

I’m not saying that Apple will create a similar market for Netbooks in the future, but they are rarely on the bleeding edge when new market segments are created.

But Apple used to be. They created one of the first consumer-friendly PCs (the Apple ][). They created one of the first commercial GUI computers (the Lisa). They created one of the first powerful PDAs (the Newton). They created one of the first personal laser printers (the LaserWriter, I think).

Yes, they still make cool products, but when did they become followers, not leaders?

@Julie:

Well you could also interpret the statement another way too…that is, that Apple has tried but just isn’t capable of creating an affordable $500 machine that isn’t junk (even though its competitors have managed to produce a quality product for less than or equal to $500).

I think that’s the only right way to parse it. Apple’s processes and procedures don’t allow them to make a good $500 netbook.

To be fair, English may not be Frank’s first language, so his parsing may have been off. Of course, you could argue that flaming a misinterpreted statement is attacking a straw man, but I think he made an honest mistake.

@Dissonance:

I wish we could keep news, not op-ed on the front page.

I completely disagree. While I want a lot of news, I also like to hear what people think about things. Analysis and criticism is important. By your logic, any review that contained a score pretty much wouldn’t belong on the home page because scores are usually quite subjective.

I suppose you could have separate blogs for News, Opinions, Reviews, etc., but that would make following the site more difficult.

Steve

I think that he makes statements like this to hide Apple’s R&D work on potential products, figuring that it is better to leave potential competitors guessing at their intentions. There is no point in letting your competition know what you are or not working on in your R&D labs.

You do have the right to criticize someone’s opinion, but you don’t have the right to say that someone else is not allowed to express their opinion, and this is exactly how your original statement came across.

@Dissonance

Your comment was very well put, and I completely agree that the op-ed have no place on the front page. Unfortunately this has been a growing trend lately and there are some which take it too far. I find myself coming here less and less because of this.

While the head of BMW has not, to my knowledge, said this, he probably hasn’t been asked if BMW has plans to come out with a < $15k automobile. If asked that question, I’d wager that the response would be very similar to Job’s.

I love my PC. I love my wife’s Mac. I love this site for the awesome coverage of mobile news. I can’t stand the anti-Apple posturing that happens on here sometimes. Save it for the forums. I wish we could keep news, not op-ed on the front page.

$.02 deposited.

However, that sort of market isn’t Apple’s and the argument that Apple doesn’t have the bulk discounts required to get componants cheaply enough to cut the margin that fine made by Julie and Doogald is very persuasive. This is sounding more and more like Jobs not expressive himself well, which he has been known to do especially in an off the cuff situation like an earnings conference.

As for the iPhone as a Netbook, it is almost a MID in some ways…and I use my Touch as a PSP. A bigger, stronger iPhone with a slide out keyboard…has possibilities.

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