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macintosh.apple

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 26, 2008
350
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All I have seen this year are dry rumors, no hard evidence. Is that normal this time of year? I remember seeing the 3G way before it was actually announced.
 
Yes. In fact, the 3GS was barely leaked. Nobody knew much about the hardware, save the 3.2 megapixel camera with video recording and 16GB/32GB. Apple has been doing a real good job, I should say.
 
All I have seen this year are dry rumors, no hard evidence. Is that normal this time of year? I remember seeing the 3G way before it was actually announced.

With nearly ten years here, and eight of them as an active poster with one identity, then another :) , I have found most of the rumors here to be either pretty close or right on. That's why sites like this exist.

Does Apple control leaks you ask? Not very well if you look at this site.

Let's say Apple comes out with a new OS or a new Macbook Pro instead of a tablet or netbook this year, then I would say, for the first time in a decade, they kept a secret from getting out.

Since joining here, Macrumors has predicted:

iPod
iPod shuffle
iTunes
iPhone
Cube
LCD iMac
a new OS based on guesses and seeing the previous one get long in the tooth
tiBook
move to Intel

What I don't recall hearing about (but I may have missed those threads):

bootcamp being free
iPod Nano (first version)
iPod Touch
SJ leaving Pixar (which could be the biggest story I missed or the press didn't see coming)
lack of firewire in the Macbook

Imho, Apple stuff is rumored pretty on the nose here while other companies' stuff never gets predicted correctly, or maybe people just don't care and thus few or no predictions!
 
Apple manages the leaks is a better way to explain it.

BTW, I love your avatar :)

But are you saying that Apple puts out the info, maybe to create a buzz?

I have entertained that possibility because you can see people on this website get so excited about everything Apple. I might read something here as a rumor, start thinking about it even when I had no intention of buying it, and then get the product when it comes out. I am busy with so many other things that I don't usually get to hear about the bleeding edge from Apple unless it comes here first.
 
BTW, I love your avatar :)

But are you saying that Apple puts out the info, maybe to create a buzz?

This is pretty common knowledge these days. Former employees have confirmed that this is what Apple does. They leak specific things out to set expectations of upcoming releases.
 
I think a better way to put it is that there employee contracts are more watertight. A lad of a mate I work with was telling us about the amount of legal paperwork he had to sign befor he got his job.

Hell he only works in a store and new items are shipped in the day before hand.
 
This is pretty common knowledge these days. Former employees have confirmed that this is what Apple does. They leak specific things out to set expectations of upcoming releases.

I kind of suspected that. The ten years I have been here on Macrumors, we have batted like .750 and it's just a little fishy if it wasn't for some planned Apple leaks.

Like I said, I bought when my interest was heightened by a leak put on Macrumors. I am a pretty conservative computer user and if it were up to me, w/o Macrumors, I would have just my Mac mini and a printer. But then I hear a lot about cool Apple stuff coming out, and third party Apple compatible stuff (who probably have to pay Apple some royalties) and then I go shopping.

Macworld does not do a bad job at selling Apple and Apple related gear but Macrumors almost always beat Macworld when it comes to advance info.
 
I kind of suspected that. The ten years I have been here on Macrumors, we have batted like .750 and it's just a little fishy if it wasn't for some planned Apple leaks.

Like I said, I bought when my interest was heightened by a leak put on Macrumors. I am a pretty conservative computer user and if it were up to me, w/o Macrumors, I would have just my Mac mini and a printer. But then I hear a lot about cool Apple stuff coming out, and third party Apple compatible stuff (who probably have to pay Apple some royalties) and then I go shopping.

Macworld does not do a bad job at selling Apple and Apple related gear but Macrumors almost always beat Macworld when it comes to advance info.

Oh please don't compare MacRumors and Macworld. One has the word "rumors" in it, which takes away the whole "it better be right each time" deal. It's a place where, um, rumors circulate in and discussion ensues. Some of the rumor-starters are full of it, whereas others may know something.

Macworld seems to not publish as much rumor content online, seemingly sticking to stuff that's more backed up.

As someone who works in the news biz, I just don't want people to confuse reporting what's happening with speculating what might be happening. When you publish 5,000 things that some guy has said may happen, it's easier to get 'em right but you still miss a lot. That's why I'm always amused at people acting like the world is over when some rumor comes out. Sometimes the info is true, but sometimes it isn't.
 
Oh please don't compare MacRumors and Macworld. One has the word "rumors" in it, which takes away the whole "it better be right each time" deal. It's a place where, um, rumors circulate in and discussion ensues. Some of the rumor-starters are full of it, whereas others may know something.

Macworld seems to not publish as much rumor content online, seemingly sticking to stuff that's more backed up.

As someone who works in the news biz, I just don't want people to confuse reporting what's happening with speculating what might be happening. When you publish 5,000 things that some guy has said may happen, it's easier to get 'em right but you still miss a lot. That's why I'm always amused at people acting like the world is over when some rumor comes out. Sometimes the info is true, but sometimes it isn't.

I trust Macworld more, of course. I like to use both the magazine and this site, and other sites to see what is happening. Many rumors or threads that the admins put up have references to them and links, so they are not just making this stuff up (most of the time, let's hope. :) )

Be here ten years like me, see the decent track record this site has, despite it's weird name, and then make a post refuting Macrumors. If you work in the news business, you know something about researching. Look back on old posts that the admins put up for discussion and compare it to the actual releases.
 
I trust Macworld more, of course. I like to use both the magazine and this site, and other sites to see what is happening. Many rumors or threads that the admins put up have references to them and links, so they are not just making this stuff up (most of the time, let's hope. :) )

Be here ten years like me, see the decent track record this site has, despite it's weird name, and then make a post refuting Macrumors. If you work in the news business, you know something about researching. Look back on old posts that the admins put up for discussion and compare it to the actual releases.

MacRumors and AppleInsider seem to be the top two to me on rumors coming close. My rant was more for others than you. I can't remember exactly what about, but I know so often I see people claim armageddon over a rumor of some new feature or something being taken away from an Apple product. I think one instance may have been over a physical keyboard. Take everything with a grain of salt until Apple unveils it at one of these events.
 
MacRumors and AppleInsider seem to be the top two to me on rumors coming close. My rant was more for others than you. I can't remember exactly what about, but I know so often I see people claim armageddon over a rumor of some new feature or something being taken away from an Apple product. I think one instance may have been over a physical keyboard. Take everything with a grain of salt until Apple unveils it at one of these events.

I might get in trouble for this, he he, but back in the day appleinsider was far better than Macrumors (and I was one of Macrumors' first regular members) :) I don't have the links for this, as it may or may not be in the archived section, but some Macrumors members mention something they saw on appleinsider here and there and then it rumors get big here.
 

Wow, that looks like a smoking gun. I knew SJ was great at creating buzz, but I bet he has a whole team of like minded, creative people who are master advertising types. I consider SJ himself to be a great advertising mind. Sure, he may not have always been considered appropriate, or wise, as a manager, but one thing he always was, and is, is a smart marketing person. And probably due to being fired, getting humiliated and rebuilding, he probably now knows how to run a company as well or better than the CEO who fired him when he was fired up in the '80s with vision but little understanding for the bottom line. Even Woz had to convince SJ to stick with computers when the going got rough with Apple I and II, as is any painful approach before a revolutionary product.

SJ has the patience to work out the kinks now, sit on it for the right time, and then introduce it and make a killing. Apple could have made the first cell phone or first MP3 player, but instead they waited and made the best and most user friendly one. I have a feeling the new netbook or tablet, or both, which I think will come out this year, will be close to the best, if not the best. Nobody will care who invented the tablet or netbook as I have already forgotten (HP and Acer?, I don't recall really), but when Apple brings out the netbook and/or tablet and/or "something totally new", it will be remembered.

The only gripe is in the first few months, the product may be 10-20% percent too high in price. We are not huge like IBM or Dell so we can't just introduce stuff at rock bottom prices. But I remember when Apple had 12,000 employees not long ago so we are getting bigger.

Who was I?:

networkman and jefhatfield, but was back when Mr. Anderson was Dukestreet. I garnered about 9,000 posts between the two personas, with the latter starting (unofficially) the political threads pissing off too many conservatives, so I changed my name and softened up my stool (I mean approach). ;)
 
Apple manages the leaks is a better way to explain it.

LOL @ your avatar!

BTW all of Apples security and NDA's are ran by these dudes. Leaks are "dealt with"..

goodfellas_cast.jpg
 
I don't think things are any better - someone mentioned above that the 3GS didn't leak, but *everything* about the 3GS leaked. Just everybody assumed at the time that they wouldn't possibly release a phone that looked exactly the same as the 3G - as it turned out, quite a few of the "3GS in a 3G case prototypes" were probably just 3GSes. The increased hardware stats and compass were leaked widely. The voice recognition was seen in the betas.

There was just lots of disinformation too that made the leaks harder to identify.

We've already had what, in retrospect, looks like an genuine video of an early version of the tablet OS in action - and that was months ago. That was a huge leak. The existance of the tablet has been known for ages. I've absolutely no doubt that most of the key hardware stats have leaked, but it's just impossible to tell what they are because several fake bits of info are also floating around.

So I don't think leaks have been reduced. Either Apple figured out misinformation worked better than suppression, or the internet has become so clogged up with people willing to do it for them that leaks aren't so much the problem anymore.

Phazer
 
it is naive to think these are "actual" leaks. it is all part of Apple's marketing strategy. a supposed "leak" is much more effective than any press release can ever be. there is an aura around ;knowing something you aren't suppose to know about.

reason why sites like appleinsider and macrumors seem to get a lot of things right is because they are both high traffic sites, Apple isn't about to "leak" info to some no traffic site
 
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