Josh Ong, Apple Insider reporter

No matter which side of the Mac vs. PC battle you find yourself on, you have to respect the genius that Steve Jobs has applied to the growth of Apple, Inc. For those who like to follow the latest developments in the Apple world, or those who just want to know when the iPad 3 will be released, Apple Insider is the site that should find itself at the top of your bookmarks. Janaé Martin sat down with Josh Ong, an Apple Insider reporter, to get his insight on covering Apple and his opinions on the company’s performance in China.

So tell me about yourself and how you came into the tech world.

I’m approaching the tech world from a writing perspective. I’ve always been interested in tech. I actually approached Apple Insider last year about writing for them and sent them a couple samples, and we were able to work something out. I don’t have a programming or an engineering background, but our generation grew up with the PC and gadgets and cell phones; depending on what age people were at, the level of tech they started with differs. The kids from the 80’s on learned technology early in life and take it for granted. Most people I know at that age are technical in some respect. Obviously, it varies depending on interest and ability.

What brought you to China?

I kind of followed my wife here. She was doing a masters’ degree at the University of Michigan in Chinese studies, and she had an opportunity to do her research and her thesis here in Beijing. I think we both had been looking for opportunities to come to China, specifically Beijing. We were drawn by the magnetism of the rapid development. It was a little bit before the Olympics, and it was just a really exciting time.

Those who were around at that time remember the hype, regulations, and changes. Now, you can see some of the lasting impacts, as well as the low after Beijing calmed down after the Olympics. Of course, these days something’s always happening in Beijing, and that’s the one of the reasons why we wanted to come and one of the reasons why we stayed. I actually find living abroad really inspiring. As a writer, I get more done here.

What is Apple Insider, and how did it start?

Apple Insider started in 1997, over ten years ago, and it’s meant to provide an in-depth and unique take on what Apple’s doing in terms of the marketplace, upcoming products, analysis on where they are amongst consumers, competitors, businesses, etc. We really work to cultivate the reputation of the site with respect to accuracy.

“There’re some sites within the Apple community that are willing to publish the more dubious rumors; but we’re really trying to do journalism that covers upcoming Apple moves with credibility rather than with just pure speculation.”

I didn’t start it, but I’ve been an Apple Insider reader for years; and I’ve always respected their approach to Apple and Mac-related news. I think that form of online journalism and blogging can be rare, especially in online tech news. Many sites just republish links and throw in a couple pithy jokes, petty comments, and remarks. You have this web of people linking to each other and themselves. I think the readers are looking for value, whether it’s credibility or analysis or even timeliness.

How do you feel about being labeled as a rumor site?

We get lumped in with some of the other rumor mill publications, but I think we’re more than that. Certainly, we publish rumors and comment on them, but I’ve personally noticed that if you look at some of the major media outlets, a lot of their work is also rumor-based: people talking with sources that are familiar with the matter and ask to remain anonymous. They’re also participating in forward-looking commentary on what a company is doing. Recently, there’s been some drama about larger sites not acknowledging other sites as actual journalists. This draws a lot of ire from bloggers and journalists in the community, who feel unfair power structure is starting to develop, depending on corporate backing. That’s some of the industry struggle that we deal with.

How does writing for web content different from writing newspapers or magazines?

I think some commentators on our site like to complain that bloggers are not real journalists, and I don’t really think that addresses the issue, the concept of a journalist. You have the stereotypical ace reporter with a notepad in his hat tracking down the scoop; and that’s just not how the industry works these days.

At Apple Insider, we use the AP style; in that respect, we’re stylistically similar to your traditional mass-journalism structure. Does that make us journalists? It’s possible. We have our own ethics policies. I consider myself a journalist, but that doesn’t mean a whole lot for me. In a sense that I feel like I’m covering news and writing about it and participating in an industry that is interested in breaking stories and crafting stories and fact checking and accuracy and responsible reporting. In that sense, I believe I am a journalist.

These days, writing for a website is actually a very solitary activity. I work from home; I’m not hounding politicians at press conferences. Most of the time, my work’s all through the computer through the Internet. That can feel alienating at times, but it’s also really thrilling to be able to interact with the world through the Internet and read reports from people around the world.

I like to keep up on the foreign correspondents here who are on Twitter. I think they have a really interesting beat covering news here in China. They’re always live tweeting and doing press conferences with officials and things like that. I think there’s a need for in-depth journalism, to be able to dig up the kind of stories that both inspire and call us into account. I don’t know if that life would be for me, but I’ve been thrown into a few situations where I was elbowing my way to get the shot of the guy who bought the first iPad in China. The Reuters guy  is right next me with his camera and the CNN and Bloomberg reporters – we were all in the press box all trying to get our shots.

It’s certainly a romanticized profession, but I’d much rather just be working with reports and words and stories. I think my brain is in that abstraction, rather than hitting the streets and polling the populous.

How do you stay on top of what’s happening in the Mac world?

Honestly, I can’t talk about very much of that. Our sources are our lifeline. They’re vital to our success as a vocation, so we keep those very close to the chest. From a Beijing standpoint, I actually find that working from China, there’s a wealth of information about Apple and its future products that you can find on Alibaba or Taobao. There’s a Taiwanese publication called Digitimes, and they have sources in every major manufacturer. They aren’t a hundred percent accurate, but when it comes to the supply chain, they’re very well-connected.

“Personally, I think being based in China is very beneficial with the manufacturing taking place over here, with how open secrets can be sometimes in the Chinese tech industry.”

I’ll find that a lot of publications that are looking for China-based writers and reporters, one, because the time zone allows you to have coverage around the clock, two, because there’s just so much to cover here if you know where to look.

Recently, a few guys who work at Foxconn were sent to jail here because they sold the plans for the new iPad to a Chinese case manufacturer. The case company paid 20,000 dollars or RMB to these factory workers to provide the specifications for the iPad in order to get a jump on manufacturing the cases. Eventually, the specs were leaked to the community at large. There’s a lot happening in China, some of it illegal, some of it not above board, but ultimately, I think there are a ton of stories that are emerging here with respect to Apple.