Dear Apple

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed

One fell down and bumped his head. Mama called the doctor, then the doctor said

No more monkeys jumping on the bed. I have been thinking. You know, a couple days ago I made a video about the upcoming iPhone SE

the iPhone SE second generation or two, whatever you choose to call it

Well, a lot of people were interested in that video and it appears many people

I wanted to hear some thoughts about that upcoming device Of course people on either side as would be the case with any popular device release

But prior to making that video, you know I was browsing the press release just like anyone else would be that's the place that the news broke

There was no event so we're looking at it iphone se a powerful new smartphone in a popular design april 15th and i'm scrolling this press

release and i get to the bottom here as you would and i see this spot press contacts

press contacts okay these are people you get in touch with if you are in the press or media or on

youtube and i realized i haven't really talked to you guys all that much about my relationship or

lack thereof with Apple specifically, even though Apple has begun to embrace the YouTube

community in certain facets, the relationship between myself, this community, Unbox Therapy

and them, sort of non-existent. Well, completely non-existent, to be honest. If a product from Apple shows up on the show, it's because I went out of my way to get it

and I don't mind, for the record, because it's obviously content you guys want to see

and it's what you click on and so it's part of the business the way I look at it

But I'm sitting there scrolling the thing and thinking to myself, why does it have to be that way

Is there no potential path forward in which Unbox Therapy becomes a place

where Apple does send those review units and you guys can actually get this content on their upcoming devices

as soon as those other places on YouTube or elsewhere on the internet

Now, for a very long time, Apple didn't embrace the YouTube community at all

And so for that transition to this new model, I applaud them to embrace anyone on this new media platform

the one that you guys participate in, the one that you guys are so enthusiastic about

But it just got me thinking about how we got to this place

because obviously the Unbox Therapy community, It's a huge community now. And it's actually, it's kind of unfortunate, to be honest, that that dialogue doesn't exist so that you guys get the most timely Apple content

But instead, often, if you want to watch something here and from me, you have to wait until the product is publicly available

And if I can get it on the first day and then rush to make a video and other people have had the opportunity to spend time with the device and publish a video right on the embargo date

which is often actually a little bit before you can even buy the device in the first place

So it got me thinking about the history, the origin with Apple

and it actually even motivated me to finally send an email to Apple directly

Yes, on my personal behalf, but also just on behalf of the community in general

the whole many millions of us here that participate in this thing that are enthusiastic and so on

So I went backwards to figure out how we got here, and it made me realize just how big of a role Apple and Apple's products have played in the success and progression of Unbox Therapy, and how much they've contributed to the development of the tech scene as a whole

We all owe them something. Here's a video of mine from March 11th, 2011

And I consider this video, it seems crazy, it has 139,000 views today

691 thumbs up. I consider this video to be the jump off point for this entire channel

It's a crazy story behind this video. It's an iPad 2 unboxing video

I was in Buffalo, New York, even though I'm based in Toronto because this was available in the US first

So I drove down there. I actually did the unboxing video inside of a Starbucks

With everybody watching, I set up a tripod. They were looking at me all strange because it was the hottest product at the moment And believe it or not when I made that video I still had notifications turned on for new subscribers on the channel that right and my

phone began to pop off like crazy and it was a it was mass confusion for me but it was also a sense

of giddiness that this thing that I was passionate about technology was going to become something that

I could do professionally. That was the first kind of inkling for me that that was going to be

possible. And of course, it was on the back of the popularity and hype surrounding an iPad and iPad

2 that I unboxed in a minute and 53 seconds inside of a Starbucks in Buffalo, New York

It's kind of incredible. So of course, I turned off notifications at that point and I got down to

business. Now, the next video I want to highlight, it was called the MacBook Air Affair, and it is

something completely off the wall that I did in August of that same year in 2011 when I got the

new MacBook Air and it kind of made the MacBook Pro jealous. Well, you'll have to watch it to

believe it. I still don't believe it to this day, to be honest. I'm doing some acting. It was fun to

make. Some people still reference it of the 47,000 people that even know it exists. But again

showcasing sort of the history with Apple before the next big event

which seems to be, this seems to be the most important event

leading to where we're at today in terms of the lack of a relationship

between Apple and Unbox Therapy. That video right here, iPhone 6 Plus Bend Test

I don't know if it's the most watched tech video ever that isn't a commercial

but it was an out of body experience this particular event. I've talked about it in the past

but it's just hard to really encompass what you're going through when something like that happens

It has 72 million views to this day. I think it was the third or fourth

most watched video that year according to some data that YouTube sent me

In this video, if you're unfamiliar, it's an iPhone 6 Plus. I talk about the rumors that it was bending

I bend it on camera and then everything explodes in the universe

and all of a sudden I'm on Bloomberg and I'm doing interviews and it's a whole crazy whirlwind

now I'm not trying to claim innocence here I knew it was going to be a hit

but the channel was so much smaller at the time that you don't truly understand

the scale of a properly viral video which that one was I was getting stopped in the street, maybe more than ever

You're the guy that bent the iPhone. It started to become an entire identity, not one that I perceived to that extent

I'd be lying if I said I knew this was going to get 72 million views

I just didn't know that. People were sending me texts. My grandma doesn't want to buy the new phone because it bends

It just got blown up. Now, I need to be clear. I feel like since a lot of people here are probably new, I didn't know if it was going to bend or not

I figured maybe I could, but it was not something anyone had ever talked about in smartphones previously

And you could choose to believe me or not, but the initial motivation, and this is another crazy story

the initial motivation to even attempt it didn't come from a blog post that I read

It came from a family member of mine who was snowboarding with the phone two days after it came out or whatever this was

Fell on his butt, took it out of his back pocket and it was bent and sent me a photo of it bent

Knowing what I do for a living, he asked me what he should do. He said, should I take this back to Apple? Will they even do anything

I said, there's no way it bent. I couldn't believe him. I just didn't believe it was possible

And of course, the rest is history since then. There's so much that transpired. I had fun with it. I played it up. I made follow-up videos. I bent other phones

And if I'm Apple at that point, I'm thinking to myself, who is this guy? This guy's just taking the stuff we worked for years on and bending it in half

Of course, in the meantime, you get to build up this tremendous audience

That's you guys who sit there and think, well, I got to watch this channel because who knows what's going to happen

And entertainment and surprising things have kind of been part of the DNA of the channel

at least compared to the rest of the tech scene for a while now

I'm not trying to brag. You know that I tend to treat things just a little bit differently than everyone else

Now, in the meantime, I didn't really enjoy bending these things. I kind of did it progressively after that video only because honestly people were kind of demanding it it became a meme and now there even somebody on youtube who essentially took the whole role completely

and turned it into a viable profitable business and of course i'm talking about jerry rig i didn't

want to do that i kind of put it down after that particular video but i it's totally understandable

obviously people are interested the view count doesn't lie but a lot has changed since then i

went on to make another video where I got kind of artistic. Because of the fact that I didn't have

access to these devices early, I would always try and think of some other angle to play up on the

new iPhone when I did finally get my hands on it, because it felt like so many impressions were

already out there from the event or from the early access where people could publish the video before

I've even seen it. So I made a video like this one. Don't buy the iPhone 8. Buy the iPhone 8

And this, honestly, this might be the most fun I ever had making a video. I got to play two roles

actually acting. The dilemma between being on either side of the fence, the debate between

whether you need something or don't need something, need to upgrade your phone, want a new phone

Is your new phone, your old phone over again? Is it enough of an improvement

It was this internal debate and dilemma that I go through as a person with this job

but also that you probably go through as a user, as a consumer

trying to figure out what's right for you, how much you should spend, when you should upgrade, all these questions that come up frequently

That video aimed to kind of encompass that entire feeling, that entire narrative

Did it do a good job? I don't know. Like I said, it was fun to make. If you haven't seen it, you can go decide for yourself

Some people got it. Plenty of people didn't get it. But that's kind of, I mean, that's the risk you take

if you're going to try to do something that's a bit different from what you normally or typically do

Alright, so here we are now. That was 2017. And I've been making tech videos for over 10 years

It's a crazy thought. It's hard to comprehend. There's over 1,500 uploads

Thousands of uploads. So many tech products covered. And Apple has been a constant in there

In that time, the channel has grown tremendously. There are now over 16 million people in the subscriber community of Unbox Therapy

And I feel that the time is right to kind of put this narrative aside

And to move forward. To give you guys essentially what you deserve

and maybe even what I deserve. To have the privilege of covering Apple products

of getting hands on the Apple products, in line at the same time as the other people

who have that advantage, who put things out onto the web in advance

To create a dialogue between Unbox Therapy and Apple that allows for timely coverage

that allows for me to bring to you Apple content when you want it

Instead of after the fact. Instead of after you're making a decision on whether or not you want to pre-order something

See, that's where things get difficult. If you know you want to pre-order something, and you've got limited content to go on

and one of those pieces of content isn't here, and you do value my impression

then that's a blind spot. That's a piece that you just don't have

simply because Apple and myself can't exchange a few emails and arrange it

And that's unfortunate. Now, I feel the need to say this, not to apply any kind of pressure to Apple

Honestly, Apple, if you're watching, you should know things continue either way

I'm obviously going to cover this stuff. It's too important a component in the tech realm for me to ignore

I'll just have to continue doing it the way that I have been. But I do feel the need to say that every other brand on the planet does have a dialogue with Unbox Therapy

well, maybe not every brand, but all the big brands, find a way to get their products here in line with the various other outlets

And I realize that's a privilege. I realize there's many of you watching who may be an upstart YouTuber

or you may have even been at it for a while and you still don't have that privilege

So I don't take it for granted. I do truthfully appreciate it

Behind the scenes, maybe when the video cameras aren't rolling, it a tough thing to discuss and talk about But if you talking about Samsung obviously you guys saw the OnePlus coverage which hit the the internet it hit the YouTube page like nothing we ever seen before across

the long list of various influencers or YouTubers which is I guess a term that I prefer if I'm

forced to choose one of them is it a perfect system absolutely not I can see your skepticism

you sit there and say well we we like it the way it is you would sit there and say

Lou, this frees you up. This lets you speak your mind. Well, I don't want to change that

For the record, I want to write an email to Apple today and I want to make it clear that I can't really change that

And if you're wondering why you're involved, it's because you're the reason that they may comply

Because of this audience. You're a part of it. It's collective. It's progressive

This thing doesn't exist without you. So this is sent to the generic media email at Apple

I don't want to single out any particular press contact. I have spoke to Apple in a very limited fashion in the past

but it never really evolved into anything meaningful. So I want to start fresh with the generic media help at apple.com

The subject, Apple and Unbox Therapy. Here's the message. Hello. It's been a while since we last spoke

And I appreciate that you've been busy. Since our last conversation, Unbox Therapy has grown into one of the largest tech communities in the world

full of passionate technology fans. That's you guys. It appears that Apple is now actively engaging with the YouTube community

through the seeding of review units. Unfortunately, reliable dialogue between Apple and Unbox Therapy hasn't yet materialized

I'm hoping this email can change that. I'd like to formally apply for the privilege of receiving Apple product review units

This would allow me to better serve the growing Unbox Therapy community and their appetite for timely Apple content

Of course, when covering Apple products, or any brand for that matter

I'll need the freedom to express my thoughts accordingly. However, I will commit to covering Apple products with respect and appreciation

The new iPhone SE is around the corner, and I'd love to get started

Thanks for your consideration. Sincerely, Lou, and a link to the Unbox Therapy channel

What will happen from here? Of course, I don't know. The ball is in their court

And honestly, to you guys, if no response takes place, nothing changes here

You just have to continue to wait a couple of extra days for me to get my hands on new Apple products, or in some cases, maybe a week

Is it ideal? No. But it hasn't been to this point, and we've still found a way to cope

If this goes through, it will simply create equal footing between this community on Unbox Therapy and the other channels and outlets that have this particular privilege

All right, so what do you guys say? Should we send it? There's the button right there. Three, two, one, bang. That's real. That just happened. That's going to Apple now

Now, one thing I don't want you guys to do is to harass Apple, to make them respond. Honestly, it's up to them. They're a company. They're a business. They get to make these decisions. It's within their right

This is by no means a demand, which is why the email was written the way that it was

I want you to know nothing changes on this channel. I'm still me. I still speak

I can't help it. It's just what happens. And I need to let you guys know before I take off, because I've involved you in something

kind of intimate, kind of behind the scenes right now, that none of this happens without you

I've told you before, and I know it can sound old because you've heard it on a platform

so many times. but I have this position in life where I get to engage with the things that I like most, technology

And sometimes it's easy to forget. You have these things lying around, you're deep in the job

and you can forget what that privilege is like. And ultimately, it's you guys who enable it

So this right here, if this is a win, it's a win for us collectively

And I will work my best to keep bringing you value and to continue to try to be as useful as possible

as I can in your world when it comes to you making decisions

about how to spend your money