Apple mandates reviewers take sales pitch

For more than 12 years now, I’ve reviewed products from hundreds of companies across dozens of product categories and until recently, I’ve never been forced to take a sales pitch before reviewing their product.

That was until Apple.

After seeing the announcement from Blackmagic that they were releasing an external GPU unit, I asked to review one. They were nice enough to offer an accompanying Mac product with the required Thunderbolt 3 port to connect to the eGPU.

All was going well, so well that the Blackmagic eGPU was delivered to me, however Apple then revealed they have an insane policy that mandates reviewers must take a product briefing (read sales pitch) before getting their product for review.

Thanks Apple, but I’m well aware of your products features and if a consumer reads a review and goes on to buy it, they don’t receive a briefing.

Now I have no problem with companies offering a review briefing, providing reviewer guides are relatively common, but mandating one is a completely different story.

If this means I never get the opportunity to review any products from Apple, then so be it, I just think this kind of behaviour deserves to be called out. 

I’ve owned Apple products before, both Macbooks and iPhones and they make amazing products. Like every other manufacturer, I always give honest feedback to my audience about what’s good and what’s not so great to ensure those who spend their hard earned money, understand exactly what they’re buying. These independent reviews are based on spending time with the product. I’ve always tried to be constructive in my feedback and been pleased by the number of products that are iterated to resolve the issues highlighted in my reviews, ultimately benefiting consumers. 

The most disappointing part of this event is that the innocent party, Blackmagic, won’t have their product reviewed on techAU, I didn’t even take it out of the box, just sent it straight back.