Late last week we received a very terse email from Google, notifying us that we would be denied entry to the Google I/O conference set for next week.
This was a complete surprise to PhoneNews.com, and we responded requesting reasons why we were being denied entry. To date, Google has not responded.
Our impartial policy across all our Newsroom Network family of sites, is to not cover an event that denies us entry as credentialed media. And, we are going to do that with Google I/O unless the winds change. But, we hope that you can help there.
We’d like you to politely contact Google I/O event management and remind them that PhoneNews.com is the biggest name in phone news (Google ‘phone news’ if you’re in doubt on that). Again, be polite and respectful, but just let them know that whatever reason they may have for not letting us in… isn’t going to help Google in the short run or the long run.
As usual, we do have stuff in reserve for when these type of things happen, we’re confident you’ll stay tuned to PhoneNews.com (and TechNews.biz) throughout Google I/O… even if we aren’t talking about it.
Part of being the most critical, hard-hitting member of the mobile media means talking about stuff companies don’t always like. But, positive companies don’t wind up as losers when we have to do that.
We realize partners sometimes don’t always agree (we are a proud partner of Google News, in case you didn’t know). And, we hope to partner with Google on future news ventures. This one may be beyond us, but Google like all large companies has lots of different people, and it’s always possible some of them haven’t heard of PhoneNews.com just yet.
Update: Google has responded after receiving an influx of emails from readers. Google claims they attempted to contact us back in February to confirm our credentials. After an exhaustive internal search, we cannot come up with any evidence that such contact was ever received.
Google now cites fire codes as being unable to seat us, claiming the event is full.
PhoneNews.com has responded to Google that it is unfortunate that they cannot accommodate us, but their lack of any buffers for these type of errors means we have no choice but to enforce our existing policy. We will not be covering any developments from Google I/O, and will compensate for that with exclusive content during those days.
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Could this be the problem?
“Jeff, with iPhone you know what you’re getting into. Nowhere is iPhone promoted as being able to run software without Apple’s approval. Android is. Consumers think that all Android phones are open. Google promotes Android as such. Here, AT&T is secretly locking down Android into something it wasn’t meant to be. Consumers won’t know that until after their 30 day return period.
As a response, we’re telling consumers to avoid AT&T-sold Android phones so they don’t feel buyers remorse when that Next Big Thing comes around… and they won’t be able to download it onto their phone.”
Reading the article referenced, I suspect Google may have been upset that someone uncovered how fragile the Android platform really is.
The article itself was actually supportive of Google, but I can see how it would make Google management unhappy. It shows how easily Google can be locked out of their own platform, if a device maker chooses to do so.
I guess the threat is that someone could make a phone like the Archos 5 Internet Tablet, complete with its own app store and replacements for Google apps. Backflip locking out unsigned code keeps Google negotiating on Motorola’s terms, and other manufacturers could start doing that too. Dude, like Dell!
Wow.. This is crazy. Just sent an email to them about this. I hope this is reversed.
I emailed them…
You really are just a blog that copies others stories so since you are not “covering” news why would you expect to be treated like a “real” news organization. If all I have to do to get into events like this is to call myself a journalist because I have a website and can type then everyone gets in free. Legitimate news agencies pay for their own tickets into events so they remain impartial. So pay and go or don’t pay and stay home…just don’t cry about it…
If I am wrong show me the top 10 stories in the last year that PhoneNews.com generated totally on their own with their own reporting and investigative staffs, not someone in their basement.
I really hope nobody at PhoneNews wastes their time ‘proving’ to these morons that they write their own stories. In the past month alone their Page Plus coverage got picked up by the national media after that interview. They’re newsmakers, sorry that ticks some people off, sheesh.
@ GEH yea the page plus story was one of the biggest stories of recent time.. And no major tech blogs covered it..
I might be more inclined to take Phone News seriously if the writers bothered spell-checking before they posted. It’s a little thing, sure, but if they don’t put the effort into it, it looks highly amateur.
Oh god, not the typo police. If I want to read news that doesn’t draw the ire of Google, and is typo-free, I’ll pick up a copy of Time Magazine.
Seb, you’re reading the site. You don’t like it? Start your own mobile news site.
Article updated. See above for the updates.