In class, we had to read an article about Walter Mossberg’s influence on the tech industry and come up with 2+ comments/questions/observations. The article starts off with Sprint and Samsung representatives going to Walt to show off the UpStage, a phone/MP3 player hybrid. Walt’s quick to point out it’s flaws and failures to keep up with the iPod Nano in terms of MP3 functionality, while complimenting them on the ingenious design.
The author goes on to compare Walt to bloggers who do similar product reviews, but because of the current trend in media will soon replace Mossberg.
Walt gets paid large (obscene) amounts of money to review products mostly because he’s respected and has an install base. In fact, the author calls Walt a ‘brand name’.
Here are my responses to the assignment:
1. Has Walt (or reviews in general) created the last word on technology? Will consumers look for a second opinion?
2. Hundreds of thousands of dollars seems excessive to get an honest reviewer.
3. Companies should encourage hones commentary in the product development life cycle so that Walt’s early critique isn’t needed.