January 6th, 2000

[Expo Report] CNBC Shows Favorable Coverage of Apple's New Plans by Bryan Chaffin CNBC covered the MACWORLD Expo keynote speech by focusing on Steve Jobs' announcement that he was the "permanent iCEO." The news organization devoted approximately 2 minutes to the story with coverage that included explanations of Mac OS X as well as Apple's new Internet strategy. Several industry analysts were also asked their opinions, most of which were positive. One analyst did comment that she did not understand how the company was going to turn the newly announced iTools into a revenue stream. The story picked out Steve Jobs' new official status as "permanent iCEO" as the top news from the event. This included the explanation that the "i" in iCEO now stands for Internet. After the story ended, the anchors of the program showed a graph of Compaq's stock and Apple's stock as a source of comparison. For those who don't follow The Apple Stock Watch, Compaq's stock has been languishing for most of the last year. The overall feel to the piece was very positive. The Mac Observer Spin: Coverage of this nature is of paramount importance to Apple. For one thing, you can't buy coverage like that, especially in the financial community. For another, Apple is being portrayed in a very positive manner which continues to add credibility to the company and its product offerings. Favorably comparing Apple's stock to Compaq's represents a very significant attitude shift in the news media in general. Apple Computer - MACWORLD Expo SF Special Report