Hacker News Reader

Judging from their past actions, I don't think they really care about the PR effect of this.

I disagree. They don't care if a bunch of Apple fanboys or tech bloggers get upset about something, because the general public usually won't notice.

Daily Show gets watched by a more mainstream audience, and I suspect it's a demographic that plays a big part in making Apple's products popular.

It's definitely a more mainstream audience but The Daily Show, popular by cable TV standards, only gets about ~1 million viewers per episode or 10% the number of people who bought an iPhone in Q2 2010, or about 1% of the people who own an iPhone/Touch since its launch. So I guess my point is we're still talking about a very small audience.

Maybe so, but I think it's different this time.

Would you be able to walk into a Apple store again and buy something there knowing that this was a company that ordered the goons to break down the doors of some guy's house? Face all those cheery Apple employees and Geniuses and not silently think if they supported the actions of their company?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com