Sophie Langridge discusses the two sides to the  iPad, the possible irrelevance of Sex and the City reviews and a reminder to marketers to be careful what they claim

The light and dark side of the iPad

Mr Stephen Fry himself, Apple Store London (courtesy of Stephen Fry)

It’s been a long time coming, but the Apple iPad is finally here. The BBC and The Daily Mail report of ‘iPad frenzy’ at Apple’s flagship store in London this morning and police were on hand to keep the crowd in order. Naturally Stephen Fry was Tweeting about it and posted this video.

Is this the negative side of generating a massive buzz around such a long-awaited product? I don’t think Apple will mind when sales figures are announced.  According to a Deloitte report in the Telegraph, the success of the gadget will spark an interest in tablet computers, turning it in to one of the most lucrative consumer electronics sectors. One thing’s for sure, I’d like to get my hands on the must-have item, just to see what all the fuss is about.

However, it wasn’t all rosy for Apple this week. The Independent talks of a darker side to the boom in the electronic equipment industry. With the suicide of a tenth worker at the ‘iPad’ factory in China, activists are campaigning against poor working conditions. As the story develops, it will be interesting to see if there is a response from Apple, Nokia, Hewlett-Packard and Dell – all of which have components that are produced by the factory in question.

Sex and the City meets Abu Dhabi

Another thing that’s generating a massive buzz is the long-awaited sequel to Sex and the City (out now, in case you didn’t know). As the Mirror puts it, it’s ‘the ultimate Marmite move franchise’ – but love it or hate it, it simply has to be seen (if not by you, then definitely by someone you know).  In PR terms, it’s a franchise that’s guaranteed to generate media coverage – but so far, it hasn’t all been great. For the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw, it’s ‘an incredibly boring sequel’ worthy of just one star and Jenny McCarthy at the Telegraph goes just one better with two stars. But the question I have is how much do negative film reviews matter when, in the days of user-generated content, we’re all so keen to form opinions ourselves? I guess we’ll find out when the box office figures come out.

The lingering effects of recession

We here appreciate a little insight into the aftermath of recession and two particular survey stories covered by the Telegraph caught our attention this week. Research from the NSPCC showed that parents spend on average just 49 minutes with their children due to a lack of cash. Meanwhile, Travelodge statistics revealed that Britons have lost almost an hour’s sleep a night during the recession largely due to stress and worry. The idea of “pound sign parents” and the analysis of our sleeping patterns just go to show that strong survey results still make news, but be warned there’s nothing more annoying than a survey for survey’s sake.

Finally, be careful what you claim

From a PR point of view, it’s interesting to see what claims get squashed in advertising and this week as both Louis Vuitton and Eurotunnel suffered the wrath of the Advertising Standards Authority. The Daily Mail reports that the French design house was found guilty of misleading customers with two ads that claim to show ‘craftsmen’ – when the bags are predominantly made by machine, not by hand.  Meanwhile, the Press Association reports an advert for Eurotunnel has been banned for claiming the service runs in any weather. Both cases serve to remind those in marketing to be careful what you claim – and remember that you’ve got to be able to back it up!

Welcome to Porter Novelli’s weekly-but-sometimes-not digital news post.

A while ago, on a long-derelict blog, I wrote a post entitled “Facebook’s PR: walking the blade”. In it, I argued that Facebook’s public relations approach was one of ‘do first, think second’, allowing Mark Zuckerberg and co to put in place controversial and potentially game-changing elements without consultation with Facebook users. If the resulting storm is big enough, Facebook might then react well and pull the new feature.

In short, Facebook walks a PR tightrope with a key difference: in a competitive social networking industry that has already seen some major players discarded in favour of the next big thing, one major slip and that tightrope might just cut Zuckerberg’s balls off.

Sure enough, Facebook’s gung-ho outlook on change (for its own benefit) has created significant public outcry once again and this time it could be the beginning of a general public scepticism. After tweaking away, Facebook found itself on the end of criticism from both users and politicians when it became apparent that nobody actually knows how private or public their data is.

This time, the challenge has begun. “Ambitious upstarts”, as BBC News called them, are lining up to take down the long-serving social networking monster. There’s no doubt that privacy will be high on their collective agenda, as it is now on the agenda of Facebook – reactively, of course. The usual story rings true, as Facebook tweaks first and then admits that it “missed the mark”. Still, simpler privacy controls are forthcoming at last so I’m sure the company will live to fight another day.

Boris 2.0: more Wi-Fi than wif-waf

He may have been an entertaining, powerless charmer once upon a time, but I tend to keep my opinion of Boris Johnson to myself since his election as Mayor of London. I really like this though: Johnson wants London to have city-wide wi-fi. Speaking to a crowd of the converted at a Google Zeitgeist event, the Mayor spoke of his desire to set up a hotspot at “every lamp post and every bus stop” by the middle of 2012.

As a digital enthusiast, I have to say this is quite an exciting prospect. The proliferation of mobile devices – from your standard smartphone right through to the iPad and its inevitable competition – means that city-wide wi-fi would have a genuinely revolutionary effect on how we consume information and content. And it means I can watch football everywhere, which is a terrifying thought.

Icing

Although it would be much better to see frat boys pushed in front of lorries, I must admit to being mildly entertained by ‘icing’, a web phenomenon in which the consumption of Smirnoff Ice, the disturbing green alcopop, becomes a game of strategy. Or, more accurately, of carrying a Smirnoff Ice around at all times.

The rules: when you’re out and about, you give your friend – “Bro” – a bottle of said evil beverage, and he must get down on one knee and drink it in one no matter where you are or who’s there with you. The pictures are then put online, at sites like the brilliantly titled Bros Icing Bros. It shouldn’t be funny, but it is.

Of course, you can always stop your bros from icing you. If you’re handed a bottle, you can block it with a bottle of your own and you bro (biological or otherwise) then has to drink both. Far from a clever strategic blocking tool, I like to think of shy frat boys carrying around a bottle as they would a cross to protect themselves from vampires.

And they say the internet cultivates stupidity! Bring back ghost ridin’ da whip, that’s what I say.

British Airways strike talks blocked by Twitter

Well, not quite.

If UK social media use is up 159%, public awareness of what should and shouldn’t be said or done within those channels hasn’t budged a single percentage point. A number of British Airways cabin crew are currently on strike in controversial circumstances, despite reasonable hope of a last-minute reprieve.

Twitter, or rather the use of Twitter by the Unite union’s joint secretary Derek Simpson, has born the brunt of BA’s criticism as strike talks broke down. A BA spokesperson criticised Simpson’s tweeting from a meeting that was eventually interrupted by protesters, calling it “irresponsible and disgraceful”. At best it was incredibly unwise.

RescueTime hi-jacks Pac-Man buzz

If you want an example of brilliant hi-jacking, look no further than software firm RescueTime, which has this week reaped the benefits of being creative and quick off the mark when a short-lived web phenomenon entered its turf. Last week, Google’s famed changing doodle was turned into a playable version of the gaming classic Pac-Man, to celebrate its 30th anniversary.

Cue Twitter going mental over the game, and people playing the mini-game in offices up and down the country and beyond. RescueTime quickly did some sums, and decided that almost five million working hours were lost, costing a total of $120,483,800. It’s flawed logic, of course, because it’s a gimmick. But it’s a gimmick that was always going to succeed in picking up coverage, and it made it onto the BBC News homepage (linking to this article) and, of course, the likes of Mashable.

Incidentally, the game’s still there if you fancy a go.

We’re after a new Associate Director for Healthcare. Take a look at our News section for a full job description.

The deadline is 25 June 2010 and contact address is toptalent@porternovelli.co.uk.

Good luck!