No, not strange. Simply not true.
Actually the iPod, when it was first released, was not a mass-market product
Who cares what kind of product the iPod "actually" was, when it was first launched? The point is that it went on to become the biggest consumer electronics hit and Apple's most successful product ever. And it had nothing to do with endorsements from pro users.
Major publications have started writing articles asking if Apple has gone down-hill
Are you new on the internet? Big publications have been writing doom and gloom stories about Apple always. That is not a new phenomenon. Meanwhile Apple has enjoyed success like no other company ever.
> endorsements from pro users.
The iPod wasn't just successful because it was a good product. It was also "cool" because it was high tech. We were just coming out of the beige box era, and standalone devices of any kind that connected to a computer were less common. It had particular cache. If pros hadn't considered Apple good technology, it would have spoiled that, and I doubt the iPod would have sold as well as it did.
> Are you new on the internet?
> Big publications have been writing doom and gloom stories about Apple always.
If pros hadn't considered Apple good technology…
Was it a good product because the pros said so, or do you think perhaps that the pros said it was a good product because it actually was?
And why do you think that only pros are capable of judging if a tech product is good? Can't non-techies judge if a product is delightful or frustrating to use? Do they only know if they like it if someone who is an engineer tells them it's ok? In my personal experience, tech people give the worst advice when it comes to gadgets, because they often have bo empathy for the fact, that normal people don't have the time or the inclination to deal with stuff that might ostensibly have great tech, but is difficult to set up and finnicky to use. Non-techies want stuff that easy to use and just works, and don't care about specs or acronyms.
There is a massive difference between the tone of the press this year, and previous years.
Your original point was that pro users' influence was apparent in the fact that the press is writing negatively about Apple. To which I replied that the press always has written negatively about Apple with the implied point that the influence excerted thusfar, does't seem to have hindered Apple's success in the slightest. But you're telling me that because the tone has changed, this time for sure the opinions of the tech press will suddenly become relevant to Apples customers, even though most of them are not interested in tech and don't follow the tech press at all?
It doesn't have much bearing on this discussion. I just think it's interesting, all these years later.
Back to present day, the effect of pro users isn't hard to see. Major publications have started writing articles asking if Apple has gone down-hill, and it's not the occasional think-piece, I see a new one every day (just read one on Bloomberg an hour ago). Heck, I read that Rush Limbaugh was trashing Apple last week. Not exactly a typical pro user. These views make it normal people, and don't make buying Apple products seem attractive.