Excessive overplay of Apple story

Chris Nichols of TheStreet.com argues Monday that the business media gave way too much coverage and play to Apple’s announcement about a new iPhone.

Nichols writes, “At The Wall Street Journal’s online home, the top item just below the navigation links was the Breaking News bar. In it was, ‘Live Blog: Apple unveils new OS software for iPhone at conference. See continuing coverage.’ That’s important placement.

“The New York Times Web site had, ‘Apple Introduces iPhone 3GS, a Faster Phone,’ right beside ‘N. Korea Sentences 2 U.S. Journalists to 12 Years of Labor’ and under ‘Europe Vote Deepens Gloom for Brown’ about the troubles facing the U.K.’s prime minister. Pretty important placement here.

“On Bloomberg.com, if you believe the order of things, the story was judged not as crucial as the stock market or an item about GM credit-default swaps, but it did surpass the likes of Ford saying GMAC now has a lending advantage, an item on natural gas prices and an article on a union at Air France wanting pilots to stop flying two Airbus jets until they get some upgrades.”

Read more here.