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August 4, 2008

rivals

Rob Enderle does not know the meaning of surrender. Or disclosure.

Posted Aug. 4, ’08, 9:26 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Apple » Rivals

enderle.jpgIt’s no secret that we’re not big fans of “analyst” Rob Enderle, but to me, this takes the cake. In his latest “column” on TechNewsWorld, among discussions of Steve Jobs’s health, Enderle also talks up Dell’s plans to launch a digital music player and download service, which we discussed last week—and, as you might remember, a project that Enderle himself is a consultant on.

Here are a couple of excerpts from Enderle’s piece:

The Wall Street Journal got wind of a secret project at Dell to possibly take the music lead away from Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), but not necessarily the device lead, making it kind of interesting.

[…]

What Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) believes, and I agree, is that folks don’t want to spend lots of time managing music — they just want to listen to it. The fact that few refresh the music on their iPods is a clear indicator that there is untapped potential here, even with iPod owners.

[…]

It has to provide more choices among better services — while containing complexity and creating a great user experience — to be successful. It can be done; we’ll know in a few months whether Dell can do it. I’m not sure I’d bet against Michael Dell.

Yet, nowhere in the article does Enderle mention that he has been hired by Dell to consult on the project. Classy. Or—to put it another way—of questionable ethicality.

Is Enderle bound by journalistic ethics? Technically, he’s an analyst, not a journalist, but given that he’s writing a column on a site where it will be disseminated alongside news content, it seems at the very least awkward that he not mention his involvement in this project.

Just another tickmark in the questions column for: why the heck would anybody hire this guy?


30 Comments

Jack said:

Why hire him? I think you've answered the question already. He brings access to the media, free advertising. If he didn't bring this to the table then one could ask "why hire him".
You can question his ethics and even question the media that publishes his comments without also providing his affiliation with Dell. There is nothing to question regarding Dell's choice to pay him to provide access and good press. That's what Enderle is selling.

August 4, 2008 10:11 AM
Savage said:

Maybe schyzo, split personnality, that is why he is calling himself "Enderle Group".


August 4, 2008 10:26 AM
Walter Davis said:

I imagine that Dell would hire him because they HOPE he would do something like this. It's the sort of "unattributed" stuff that you often see, in a self-referential loop, propping up a dodgy proposition.

August 4, 2008 10:30 AM
SMC said:

Why do bloggers keep calling attention to people who they claim don't deserve the attention?

August 4, 2008 10:38 AM
Dan Moren Author Profile Page said:

"Why do bloggers keep calling attention to people who they claim don't deserve the attention?"

Because, as much as we might hate giving attention to these people, letting someone get away with something of this level would be approval by silence. Unfortunately, closing our eyes and hoping they'll just go away doesn't seem to work...

August 4, 2008 10:45 AM
J Bush said:

They certainly wouldn't hire him as a consultant on the music business itself. He's demonstrated repeatedly the very real limits of his ability to grasp any nuances in the tech sector. Hiring him for hot air is really the only thing left.

The complaint isn't with Rob Enderle, idiot though he is. It's with publications that continue to provide him with space to promulgate his nonsense. Imagine a Rob Enderle technology blog being a self-sustaining venture. You can't, can you? Even that other self-serving windows hack with his own set of blogs is a better (though not by much) commentator/analyst/industry observer than Enderle.

August 4, 2008 10:47 AM
Jon T said:

I think the whole Enderle/Dell thing is hillarious.

We all know for sure that this will be a far worse failure than even the Zune and its 'Social' and 'Marketplace'.

Frankly, I don't think it matters one iota whatever Rob Enderle does or doesn't do.

The guy is a complete non-entity.

August 4, 2008 10:50 AM
JDT said:

I read Rob's column every Monday! This is actually the only thing I look forward to on Mondays. If was Dell I would have hired him too. Think about it. Who else is more consistent in predictions about future markets, products, or analyses? I mean come on, he is wrong about 95% of the time. Ask him what to do and do the opposite; you are likely to get it right! Ask him what he likes and do the opposite and again you have a winning product/service.
Oh, and his ethics are questionable at best.

August 4, 2008 10:56 AM
mark said:

The "Enderle Group" includes his wife (or it did at least at one point). IIRC, she published a review of the flat-panel iMac G4 and wrote that it was a safety hazard, as it could easily tip forward during an earthquake.

August 4, 2008 10:57 AM
Reality Check said:

I like double standards. When Pogue or Mossberg lick Jobs' boots it's never a problem for Mactards.

August 4, 2008 11:03 AM
Neo said:

"[F]olks don’t want to spend lots of time managing music — they just want to listen to it."

That's kinda like saying folks don't want to spend lots of time rebooting their PeeCees, they just want to use them. Apple realized the music-listening part already, I think, and maybe this I-POD thing will catch on?

August 4, 2008 11:12 AM
Dan Moren Author Profile Page said:

@Reality Check: I don't know which reality you're checking, but Pogue and Mossberg are not employed by Apple as consultants. Try again.

August 4, 2008 11:13 AM
yt said:

"Is Enderle bound by journalistic ethics?"

Maybe, maybe not, but if he's going to call himself an analyst, he's bound by a similar set of ethics for analysts, and working as a consultant in the very field he covers is a big "Noooooooooooooo!!!!" for analysts. If a real analyst, not a pretend one like Enderle, took money from a company in his field, well, it wouldn't happen because a real analyst wouldn't do that, because that would be some serious conflict of interest and the credibility of an analyst depends on independence and impartiality.

Whichever hat he's wearing, either journalist or analyst, Enderle is acting unethically.

August 4, 2008 11:24 AM
. said:

@Reality Check
Want some aloe for that burn?
lol. Go Dan.

August 4, 2008 11:25 AM
Paul Author Profile Page said:

@Reality Check: wow, you really get around. Tired of posting on macobserver.com?

August 4, 2008 11:34 AM
Anonymous said:

"The "Enderle Group" includes his wife (or it did at least at one point)."

I remember reading, at one point, that it included his cat.

August 4, 2008 11:39 AM
Donn Author Profile Page said:

Add to it all the fact that, judging by the above samples, Enderle's writing is crap. The first sentence hurts to read.

August 4, 2008 11:57 AM
Vic Author Profile Page said:

I find it facinating how everybody has THE system that is going to topple Apple's claim to number 1 music store and / or crown as number 1 music player - yet, everyone who has tried it has failed miserably. Makes ME wanna ask 'Why'? If they're so smart, and they have THE key, why do they fail? Simple really, they actually DON'T get it (the Apple User Experience). They always make the mistake of assuming that if Windows users do this or that, that Apple users must do it the same way, right? THAT's the part they don't get you see. Corny or not, that old Apple buz 'Think Different' really IS true. Apple users DO sync their music, every time they plug in their iPods to power them up. And, they can very easily put most if not all their music on their iPods, then create 'on the go playlists' for the type music they're in the mood for today. Apple users have a MUCH different User Experience than windows users (it's a bit better today with an Apple version of iTunes for Windows users), but Apple users still have a much different way of seeing and doing things on their Macs, iPods, and iPhones than Windows users, and Dell and any other Windows based enterprise out there is never going to break into Apples lovely 'Walled Garden' as they'll never understand (or accept) those differences...

August 4, 2008 11:59 AM
romansempire Author Profile Page said:

It's not the first time Enderle displayed a conflict of interest. He was telling any reporter who was stupid enough to quote him that HD DVD would prevail over Blu-ray. And he's on the "advisory council" for Toshiba, the developer of HD DVD. So much for that insight.

August 4, 2008 1:00 PM
Andre Richards said:

I'd like to offer this re-write the whole lead for his piece...

"Did Steve Jobs make a monkey out of a seasoned reporter and score a brilliant PR coup? Has Dell got the secret sauce for a successful new music service? Did Rob Enderle finally put a bullet in the head of his credibility after letting it writhe pathetically on the floor for the last several years?"

August 4, 2008 3:29 PM
no one said:

bunch of smart asses. Rob has forgotten more about tech and tech marketing then all of you ever knew. while I don't agree with him here he is hired not for access (any tech company can get whetever access it wants) but for his deep knowledge and smarts and experience. those that can do, those that can't post assinine comments on blogs

August 4, 2008 3:39 PM
bloodnok Author Profile Page said:

dell hired this hack as a consultant? cool. that would indicate just how much success their itunes clone will have.

August 4, 2008 4:01 PM
Neil Anderson Author Profile Page said:

Maybe his cat wrote and posted it?

August 4, 2008 5:33 PM
Jope said:

Ethics? Just saying the word out loud would probably give him a rash or something... :)

Enderle has never been known for his analyst prowess anyway back to when he was at Meta Group: wrong every single time (except whae he "predicted" things that had already happened). It is fun to keep count of all the times he wrong, though... ;)

August 4, 2008 6:13 PM
BJ Nemeth said:

"... letting someone get away with something of this level would be approval by silence."

Agreed.

The adage "Any publicity is good publicity" is not true, unless you just want fame for fame's sake. (Paris Hilton has made a "career" out of fame for fame's sake.) Yes, posts like this make Enderle more famous, but they also diminish his respect and his standing within the industry.

Personally, I don't care if Enderle is famous. But if he's respected within the industry -- that hurts my brain.

August 4, 2008 9:49 PM
oriste said:

Who's Rob Enderle?

August 5, 2008 10:00 AM
Todd said:

@Donn: "It kind of is, but not really completely, only if you read words."

Good Lord, what happened? I almost blacked out.

@no one: "I can typez post?"

Didn't you just post an asinine comment on a blog? (At least we finally get to see what Rob's writing looks like before sub-editing...)

August 5, 2008 4:36 PM
Randall Schwartz said:

Which group thinks Enderle is a bigger idiot?

Mac users?
Linux users?

When you google his name you get a great line about Enderle putting the anal in analyst.
And really,..isnt that how you wanna remember him?

PS: Hands up those who are surprised that the only place you see him anymore is when he appears with John Dvorak.
Dvorak and Enderle: like syph and the clap.

August 6, 2008 12:10 AM
aharden said:

Enderle supported SCO against Linux. That ruined whatever credibility he might have had with me.

August 6, 2008 6:52 AM
Chuck said:

Oh, my. This IS funny,

"bunch of smart asses. Rob has forgotten more about tech and tech marketing then all of you ever knew."

Yah, like we all forgot how Microsoft wrote the first Mac OS. I am not making up this Enderle quote. He said,

" It is interesting to note, that few seem to remember that Microsoft wrote the first MacOS under contract to Apple nearly two decades ago but, like most Apple partnerships, this one also ended
badly."

The man lives in an alternate reality.


August 6, 2008 6:42 PM

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