I have seen this more and more lately, the standard reaction to anything Apple in the tech community is pitchforks. I have a feeling subconsciously we all want Apple to fail at something and try to latch on to anything remotely blamable.
I think that's a counter reaction to a whole bunch of people who think Apple can do no wrong at all.
This press release doesn't change any of those points, it merely places the blame on bugs (which wouldn't have been patched had the story not been uncovered).
Isn't this comparable to the Google/Buzz fiasco, which was met with similar (deserved) scorn?
That's a pretty cynical reaction. Why would you make that assumption? Do you think that if someone had alerted Apple privately to the bug they never would have gotten around to fixing it?
But that's an incredibly negative view isn't it? By imitating Apple, the other manufacturers simply aren't contributing anything meaningful. It seems unlikely that Apple's failure would make them suddenly unleash a wealth of creativity and contribution on the world. If they had it, why wouldn't they be using it right now?
Wouldn't it be better for Apple to succeed, and the imitators fail? That way, we'd get the best of both worlds. Advancement of technology from Apple, and a clear marketplace signal that imitators are not wanted.
New companies and investors would who wanted to succeed would no longer be tempted to imitate but might actually innovate.