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Canalys Accused of Being Liars and Pushers of Microsoft Propaganda

Canalys



Summary: The latest lies from Canalys are basically Microsoft promotion disguised as "just statistics"

WE HAVE REPEATEDLY seen and reported dubious claims of Microsoft "success" in mobile because it always turns out to be baseless propaganda, often from Microsoft-paid entities.



We are again seeing all sorts of ridiculous claims about Microsoft mobile "success" (tiny gains) -- claims that are mostly thrown around for promotion by Microsoft booster and shameless (at times AstroTurfing) PR agencies. The Microsoft boosters really need some source to cite if they sell an illusion and ZDNet (part of ) is a popular source because there's lots of Microsoft staff and boosters there, masquerading as "journalists" (Microsoft Zack, for example, plays the Microsoft "privacy" card at ZDNet these days, omitting his employment at Microsoft). ZDNet's worst writer, Rachel King (we covered her for propaganda and PR before), writes that "Windows Mobile is coming on the strongest, poised to be the biggest disruptor in 2014." [1]

Oh, really?

This reminds us of familiar deception from Microsoft- and Apple-funded firms like Net Applications (no longer cited anymore; maybe after a while they stop funding disgraced entities and move on to another, just as they do with their lobbyists).

Canalys and its shameless lies are already debunked thoroughly by Tomi Ahonen [2]. "On Mythbusters today," he wrote, "did Windows Phone really grow more last year than Android and iOS? We put Canalys to the test. And also in today's program the Microsoft way to cook your books. Mythbusters team tires to turn a yes into a no. How can you tell the opposite of the truth through the magic of statistics."

Remember when IDC was paid by Microsoft to make fake market share studies and also to push out to the press (not just IDG) bogus claims? Microsoft did the same with Gartner. So the question remains, what is the relationship (if any) between Canalys and Microsoft? We might never know. It took a long while to discover that Microsoft had paid Net Applications and also had former staff there (prolonging the myths around market share). It was not an isolated incident or example. We covered many more.

Related/contextual items from the news:


  1. Canalys: 80 percent of all smartphones shipped in 2013 ran Android
    For quite awhile now, there has been no question about which operating system dominates the smartphone market, domestic or worldwide. Android's reach is not slowing down either, based on a new report from global market research firm Canalys.


  2. Paging Mythbusters Again: Did Microsoft's Windows Phone Really Grow More in 2012 Than Android or iOS? - How to Lie Creatively with Statistics: The Canalys Are Deliberately Misleading and Utterly Untrustworthy Edition (PS: Not first time for Canalys)
    Mark Twain quoted Benjamin Disraeli saying that there were three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. This is the mythbusters edition about Canalys the supposedly professional mobile industry analyst house who would like to sell you their expensive reports. its been a while since we've had to do some work as the industry's stats police but unfortunately for the supposedly trustworthy Canalys, this is already the second time they are on our agenda.




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