IOTA clarifies its affiliation with Microsoft - finally

Hey guys,

maybe you have already picked it up in the news already but IOTA clarifies, that is does in fact not maintain a business partnership with Microsoft, at least not in the strictly formal sense.
With "The Next Web" (TNW) citing a Microsoft spokesperson, that “IOTA is a Microsoft Azure customer and plans to use Azure to test and deploy its Data​ ​Marketplace.” their professional affiliation with Iota has to be classified as a business-customer relation more than a strategic partnership.
According to TNW IOTA co-founder Dominik Schiener further elaborates in a mail correspondence:
“We have never mentioned that any of the companies which are participating in the marketplace are our 'partners' [...] We call them participants.”

I would not be irritated about Iota's statement had it not been preceeded by 2 weeks of ominous silence on IOTA's part. Ever since their original data marketplace announcement on Nov. 28 their market cap has at it s peak quintupled, increasing from 3 to 15 Billion USD and temporarily claiming rank 4 of all cryptocurrencies in term of capitalization.
When a sudden token appreciation is so irrevocably attributable to a single news release and yet the market has to wait two weeks for a clarifying statement this has to make one question the intentions of their corporate communication.

Why the eerie reclusiveness if this had been an evident miscommunication - confusing 'partners' with 'participants' - all along? If we were in a regulated capital market environment (which I know we are not) both moral and regulatory protocol would very clearly demand an immediate ad-hoc news release, lest the company wants to risk holding back information that materially affects business.

You do have to give IOTA the credit of citing their Nov 28 blog post correctly though, third party affiliates are indeed presented as participants in IOTA's perspective data marketplace. But then again it is the Microsoft testimonial in the very same news release which catches the inclined reader's eye:

“We are excited to partner with IOTA foundation and proud to be associated with its new data marketplace initiative. This next generation technology will accelerate the connected, intelligent world and go beyond blockchain that will foster innovation real world solutions, applications and pilots for our customers”.
— Omkar Naik

At first glance this is definitely a statement alluding to a much more formal 'partnership' than just Iota being a customer of Microsoft Azure. Maybe this quote was already chosen too ambiguously -let it be intentionally or by accident- but why do you refrain from clarifying your position while watching your implicit enterprise value multiply as a result of it?
I honestly do not know what to make of this or what the consequences of it might be. But in light of a full disclosure and transparency policy that the IOTA foundation should adhere to this misguided handling of events does raise some questions towards the impartiality of the project in my opinion.

Have a nice day everyone.

• Image Source: Pixabay
• Reddit discussion on that topic
• The Next Web
• IOTA Nov. 28 blogpost