Readers React to David Pogue's Review of the BlackBerry Storm
By DAVID POGUE The New York Times December 4, 2008
I learned something last week.
In my Times print column, I reviewed the BlackBerry Storm, by far the worst product Research in Motion has ever produced. I had problems with its concept, problems with its clicky touch screen, problems with its speed, and above all, problems with bugs (which the company refused to acknowledge, even when I sent them videos of the phone acting up and even locking up).
About 100 readers wrote to say that they had bought the Storm and now regretted it. Some samples:
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Not all readers agreed with me, however. About a dozen new Storm owners wrote to say that, while they, too, found some bugs and sluggishness, they liked the phone nonetheless.
But I also heard from about a dozen people who have not tried the Storm, but nonetheless poured on me the Internet equivalent of molten lead:
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It always blows my mind when people tell me that my assessment of some product is wrong -- without ever even having tried the thing themselves. I just can't get over that.
And now for the thing I learned:
For years, tech critics like me have occasionally endured abuse from the Cult of Mac. If you write anything that even hints at a less-than-perfect Apple effort (like my reviews of, for example, the original Apple TV, iMovie '08 or MobileMe), the backlash is swift, vitriolic and heated. We're talking insults, vulgarities and even threats. I've always thought that that vocal sub-population of Mac fans make up the world's most watchful, most hostile grass-roots lobbying arm.
But now I see that I was wrong. There's an even nastier one: the BlackBerry nuts.
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