Due to very real test results as well as a significant social media expression, the Apple brand made a decision that will certainly eat into their profits of fairly overpriced bumpers. Speaking of those petroleum produced bumpers, I'm sure an extra 10 million of them (290 million dollars of revenue will be lost over the course of iPhone 4) will wreck havoc on the Earth which is unfortunate, but at least people can use their phones as...hmmm...yeah....phones! Awesome!

But this post is about social media research so let's get back on point!

Certainly Apple pays top dollar for brand experts who advise them...believe me...Steve Jobs doesn't do everything for the brand regardless of what all of their fans may believe. They did let the brand issue go too long in regards to addressing the very real issue of performance for a $700+ cell phone (including upfront cost + amortized value spread out the course of your contract as dictated to the masses in the US). It wasn't until another highly regarded US brand, Consumer Reports, came out with a detailed test/experiment that Apple made a decision to both up the ante and call out the problem by giving away free "bumpers," the same bumpers that Steve Jobs recommended purchasing with the product announcement certainly based on their raison d'être of being a necessary "accessory."

So what caused the "recall" of iPhone sans bumper into a sale that came with a free piece of plastic normally priced at 29 USD?

Was it social media as evidenced by digital tweets of "what the F**#*$*$ where you thinking Apple?" to digital jargon of "Apple we love you forever and ever!" Are Apple just nice guys and they knew they made the biggest SNAFU in the history of smart phones and its just plain cool to fix it? Were they advised by their 2000+ cadre of lawyers on retainer that they were going to lose their stockholders' pants if they didn't face the music and address the issue very soon? Was the Consumer Report documentation the final nail in the coffin of naked iPhone 4's that required them to be censored in public with colorful anecdotes of plastic straight from the Gulf of Mexico?

We may never know, but it seems that using data I researched using the in-depth social media marketing and research tool www.sysomos.com the numbers between those expressing negative feelings were only slightly more (but by a few, really) over those expressing positive feelings.

In social media, what remains true is that those who participate using the various tools and techniques that are available yield loud voices that are heard by many more people. Hmm, it kind of reminds me of democracy and the matrix between those that participate and of those that don't participate. Now that should light a fire under your apple to get out and and get involved with social media so that your voice and participation isn't overshadowed by other people based on the sole fact that...they...are the ones participating and you're not.

So as the doctor said, eat an apple a day and tweet less than 20 times a day and all is good. Just make sure it isn't an Apple, okay, cause it might bust your grill so you won't be able to upload any new profile pics to all of your user accounts.

Apple's $100M USD antenna testing facility