WSJ: 8 of 10 of 2011's most-read stories were about Apple

Only the Paul Allen-Bill Gates feud and Borders' liquidation prevented a clean sweep 

Source: WSJ.com

If you ever wondered why there are so many reporters -- like this one -- covering Apple (AAPL), here's a clue:

According to Thursday's Wall Street Journal, eight out of 10 of the most-read corporate news stories on WSJ.com in 2011 were about Steve Jobs or the company he brought back from the brink of bankruptcy.

Only the nasty things Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder Paul Allen had to say about Bill Gates and the liquidation of the second-largest bookstore chain in the U.S. prevented a clean sweep.

Here, in order, is WSJ.com's top 10 list:

1. Steve Jobs' obituary
2. Verizon lands the iPhone
3. Jobs quits as Apple's CEO
4. Apple's new iPad in production
5. Sprint to get the iPhone
6. The iPhone 4S "fails to wow"
7. Jobs introduces the iPad 2
8. Apple and Google's "locationgate"
9. Borders forced to liquidate
10. Microsoft co-founder lashes out

You can page through the Journal's list and find links to their stories here. (Flash required.)

Posted in: Apple, Bill Gates, Borders, iPhone, LocationGate, Paul Allen, Steve Jobs, Wall Street Journal

• Sen. Al Franken vs. Apple's 'Bud' Tribble: The transcript

  "Does this data indicate anything about your location or doesn't it?"

  At the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on privacy, technology and law Tuesday, Sen. Al Franken put his finger on the most glaring contradiction in the controversy that has come to be known as Locationgate:

  On the one hand we have Steve Jobs telling All Things Digital's Ina Fried that the location data Apple (AAPL) gathers from iPhone users "are not telling MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - May 10, 2011 3:09 PM ET
  Posted in: Al Franken, Apple, Associated Press, Bud Tribble, iPhone, LocationGate, Mobile, Steve Jobs, tracking, U.S. Senate, Wall Street Journal

• Apple closes the LocationGate

  A software update trims a location file four weeks after its existence was revealed

  In a Q&A released last week, Apple (AAPL) promised to do something "within a few weeks" about the location database that triggered lawsuits and investigative hearings both here and abroad. The fix, in a free software update for iPhones and iPads called iOS 4.3.3, arrived Wednesday afternoon.

  Also on Fortune.com:

  LocationGate was a 'bug,' says Apple
  LocationGate: The counterattack
  Track your MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - May 4, 2011 4:31 PM ET
  Posted in: Apple, iPad, iPhone, LocationGate, Mobile, Tablets, tracking, Wi-Fi

• LocationGate was a "bug," says Apple

  Responds to the hysteria with a 10-part Q&A and the promise of a software update

  "Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so."

  So begins Apple's (AAPL) response to the controversy that has been mounting since last Wednesday when two British researchers released an open source application that let Apple's customers see -- in the form of multicolor MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 27, 2011 10:16 AM ET
  Posted in: Apple, Hotspot (Wi-Fi), iAd, iPad, iPhone, LocationGate, Mobile, Tablets, Wi-Fi

• LocationGate: The counterattack

  Cooler heads have started to respond to the smartphone data flap, but it may be too late

  "If there is anything less appropriate than a technologically ignorant media covering the subtleties of the manufactured LocationGate phony-scandal," writes Roughly Drafted's Daniel Eran Dilger, in a post perhaps too subtle for his usual AppleInsider audience, "it's the investigative policing by US and EU politicians who have suspended their efforts to rectify the economy, MORE

  Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 26, 2011 8:11 AM ET
  Posted in: Android, Apple, AppleInsider, Daniel Eran Dilger, Google, iPhone, LocationGate, Marco Arment, Mobile, Steve Jobs, tracking