Who is U2?

Originally published on 14 September 2014

Apple really should’ve thought this through carefully.

There were, clearly, other ways in which they could’ve distributed the new U2 album. Yet, Apple chose one that would alarm its (illiterate) users of their iTunes software, where — in some cases — it would automatically populate a user’s music library with the gifted music.

Being someone who follows Apple closely, I was well aware of the offering — while the most who weren’t got a rude shock, to put it bluntly.

And because the world is so full of stupid, knee-jerk reactions littered social media — an all-too-commonplace scenario whenever something out-of-the-ordinary occurs. This can be highly contagious amongst their own kind, albeit to a point, and can generate an overall atmosphere of negativity.

Are the implications of Apple’s actions worth all of this? For the sake of setting a precedence (i.e. ‘Biggest Album Release Ever in History’) and broadening U2’s (brand?) exposure to all of its iTunes account holders? Perhaps.

But because it didn’t incur any financial burdens on the iTunes account holder, the downside of this marketing exercise may not be as dire as expected. In any case, some damage has been done, and the stupid should subside to negligible levels soon.

Kinny tweets aviation, social media and technology on Twitter.