Apple Rumor Community Information
The Apple rumor community is concerned with Apple Inc. and its products, including the Macintosh, the iPhone, the iPod and the iPad. In recent years, a subculture has developed around rumors about new products and services from Apple. The company enjoys a cult-like following for its Macintosh platform. This, combined with a very tight-lipped corporate policy about future products, has fostered this interest in the company's activities.
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History
The industry of Macintosh speculation, known as "Mac Rumors," began with a regular column in the now defunct MacWEEK magazine called "Mac the Knife" and written under a pseudonym. This column would often cover topics such as upcoming hardware releases from Apple, as well as new software products and incremental updates with new features. It was written by the MacWeek staff and was sometimes used by companies as an early form of viral marketing to generate buzz around products before they were ready for release. For instance, Macromedia would tout new features in the upgrade to its drawing program when buzz was building for an imminent release of Adobe Illustrator.[citation needed]
The popularity of Mac the Knife's column, combined with the Internet's publishing model, made a low-cost business model viable for others, and early on MacOS Rumors became the "it" source for Macintosh rumors, especially as MacWEEK was thrown into turmoil by the decline of Apple's fortunes in the mid '90s.
Historical Sites
MacOS Rumors
MacOS Rumors was founded by Ethan C. Allen in 1995 and is considered the first Mac rumors site. It was obtained by Ryan Meader after a domain expiration within two years of its creation. Originally with Ethan, the site posted most of its rumors based on screenshots and info sent via email from followers. With Ryan at the helm, MacOS Rumors collected content from message boards and usenet posts but later claimed (unsubstantiated) to have developed contacts inside Apple. In the past few years MacOS Rumors has gained a reputation for being notoriously inaccurate with many claims that the content is fabricated [1]. Meader had allowed the MacOS Rumors domain name to expire around July 16, 2007, but then renewed the domain for another nine years and announced the addition of a new staff writer.
ThinkSecret
Think Secret appeared in 1999. Apple filed a lawsuit against the company alleging it printed stories containing Apple trade secrets[1]. In December 2007 the lawsuit was settled with no sources being disclosed; however, the site was shut down, finally closing on February 14, 2008[2].
In the year leading up to the closing of the site, ThinkSecret started showing signs that its accuracies were rising again, with its correct prediction of an Aluminum shell iMac, development of a touchscreen-based iPod starting in 2006, and the relative BlackBerry-esque form factor of the new iPod Nano. However, there were still some reports that turned out to be false, such as its prediction of the demise of the Mac Mini, when it received an upgrade in mid-2007, albeit with no fanfare.[3]
MacScoop
Initiated in May 2002 as MacOSXRumors, it initially focused on Mac OS X but quickly widened its scope to general Apple news and rumors. It does both corroborating and its own reports. The site, was renamed MacScoop in September 2006, with MacOSXRumors.com remaining online as a more Mac OS X-centric view of the content.[4] The site's owner is among those who have been in touch with Apple lawyers in 2004 after publishing a Mac OS X Tiger related article.[5] MacScoop's url is now (April 20, 2010) directed to Silicon Rumors which has numerous 'Warning Cannot modify header information errors on its page and the most recent Active forum topic has an article dated 12-28-2008.
Long recurring rumors that came true
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1990s
- Apple entering the video game console market (confirmed with the introduction of the Pippin).
2000
- A small, square Mac tower with no monitor. Confirmed with the release of the Power Mac G4 Cube in 2000.
2005
- A cheaper, scaled down, "headless iMac". Confirmed with the release of the Mac mini in 2005.
- Mac OS X on Intel machines (Confirmed by the Apple–Intel transition in 2005)
- iPod with video playback (confirmed with the release of 5G iPod on October 12, 2005)
- Flash-based iPod (long rumored, confirmed with release of iPod shuffle and iPod nano in 2005)
- Video sales at the iTunes Store (confirmed on October 12, 2005)
2006
- Full-length movie sales at the iTunes Store (confirmed September 12, 2006)
- Redevelopment/re-implementation of Apple set-top box/DVR concept (see Apple Interactive Television Box, Macintosh TV) (confirmed with Apple TV on September 12, 2006)
2007
- iPhone (Motorola's Rokr was originally considered to be the iPhone, but an iPhone developed by Apple was confirmed at Macworld Expo January 9, 2007)
- Development of an advanced finger touch-screen device: confirmed with the release of the iPhone, which features a multi-touch technology, and brought to the iPod line with the iPod touch.
- The addition of a spreadsheet application to iWork (confirmed on August 7, 2007, with the introduction of Numbers).
- iPod with a big screen filling its entire front for movie playback (sometimes referred to as "true" or "widescreen" video iPod): Somewhat came true with the iPhone, and fully realized with the iPod touch, announced September 5, 2007.
2008
- Movie rentals on iTunes Store, confirmed on January 15, 2008.
- A portable subnotebook, confirmed on January 15 with the introduction of the MacBook Air.
- A new manufacturing technique for new notebooks, confirmed on October 14 with the introduction of the unibody MacBook and MacBook Pro. However, it turns out the method for creating new notebooks was not actually "new" as it had been secretly introduced with the MacBook Air.
2010
- Apple iPad, rumored as iSlate or iTablet, was announced January 27, 2010.
- Apple iPhone 4, rumored as the "iPhone HD" and/or "iPhone 4G", was announced on June 7, 2010.
Current Websites
The Apple rumors community is currently made up of several major websites. Additionally most of the other mainstream technology sites including Arstechnica, Engadget, Gizmodo and Slashdot include Apple sections and sometimes release rumors of their own.
9 to 5 Mac
9 to 5 Mac is a fairly new rumor site that received little attention, until all of its predictions about the aluminum iMac came true. It then leaked what it purported to be genuine pictures of the third generation iPod nano[6], which Apple later demanded to be removed, as well as leaking information about the iPod touch. 9 to 5 Mac is now widely believed to have a real source inside Apple and is currently one of the most believed rumor sites.
AppleInsider
Main article: AppleInsiderAppleInsider generally reports the most Apple news and also has some of the most reliable sources for rumors and as of 2008 has done for a number of years. In the late 1990s Apple successfully sued a John Doe from AppleInsider's boards with the username "Worker Bee" for revealing information on what would eventually become the Apple Pro Mouse. It was a rare case of Apple following through on threats of a suit. The case was settled out of court.[7]. In 2004 several moderators and members left the forum to found AppleNova. It also has a forum for discussion of news stories and other community news.
MacBidouille/HardMac
The French site MacBidouille used to report rumors, although they stopped for multiple reasons.[8] However, they still "speculate" from time to time, such as for the release of the G5.[9] Otherwise, MacBidouille (French for "MacHacks") is one of the best sites of information for French Mac users. It offers daily news, articles and forums, which are amongst the largest ones devoted to French-speaking Mac users. If rumors and announces made part of its fame, most of its articles give technical (testing, fixing, and customizing) or commercial information – and sometimes harsh criticisms against Apple's policy. There is an English version of the site called HardMac, which carries the actual same news and articles (usually with a half-day delay), translated in English by a team of volunteers.
MacRumors
Main article: MacRumorsIn 2000, MacRumors appeared as an aggregator of Mac-related rumors and reports around the Mac web. By consolidating reports and cross-referencing claims, MacRumors attempts to keep track of the rumor community. MacRumors now has over 400,000 members and over 10,000,000 forum posts.[10] In addition to providing rumors, news, and an active forum, MacRumors also serves as one of the most prominent sites for broadcasting live coverage of Apple announcements via MacRumorsLive.com. Macrumors is also home to one of the biggest Mac based forums. Users can find support for many Apple related issues, as well as talk to other Mac users about other community and industry related issues.
Extra-community activities
The Mac rumors user communities often coordinate their ranks in extra-community activities. For example, Stanford University's Folding@home distributed computing protein research project keeps track of how much computer power is donated by users, and currently 6 of the top 100 teams are organized by Mac rumors-related websites.[11]
Apple's response
Apple's official stance on the Mac rumor scene has been one of disapproval.[citation needed] Cease and desist orders were not uncommon when rumor sites were able to accurately report product images or documents. Historically, however, Apple has primarily pursued the leakers of information rather than the rumor sites themselves. Apple's recent suit against Think Secret, however, is targeting whether these sites have the right to knowingly publish this protected information.
During his January 10, 2006 keynote address to the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, Apple CEO Steve Jobs poked fun at the rumors community by pretending to create a "Super Secret Apple Rumors" podcast during his demonstration of new features in GarageBand.[12] The domain SuperSecretAppleRumors.com, was registered by a member of said community, and used to redirect to the rumor site AppleNova.
See also
- Rumor Websites
- General Apple Pages
External links
Below are some of the biggest rumor sites.
- 9 to 5 mac
- AppleInsider
- MacRumors.com
- MacScoop
- MacBidouille/HardMac: MacBidouille in English
- Daringfireball by John Gruber
References
- ^ "Apple Targets Harvard Student For Product 'Leaks'". Information Week. January 13, 2005. http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=57701119. Retrieved January 8, 2006.
- ^ Arnold Kim (February 15, 2008). "ThinkSecret.com Now Offline". MacRumors. http://www.macrumors.com/2008/02/15/thinksecret-com-now-offline/. Retrieved April 24, 2008.
- ^ Jeff Longo (August 7, 2007). "Apple Quietly Updates Mac Minis". MacRumors. http://www.macrumors.com/2007/08/07/apple-quietly-updates-mac-minis/. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
- ^ No more confusion: introducing MacScoop!
- ^ Markoff, John (March 24, 2005). "Technology; Apple's Legal Drive to Stifle Web Sites Is Fruitless So Far". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E0D7163FF937A15750C0A9639C8B63. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
- ^ Cleve Nettles (2007-08-22). "Nano Spy Pics". CNet News. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070930161429/http://9to5mac.com/ipod-nano-spy-shot-23545346. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
- ^ Ina Fried (2004-12-21). "Apple goes to court to smoke out product leaker". CNet News. http://news.com.com/2100-1047_3-5499814.html. Retrieved 2006-06-05.
- ^ MacBidouille.com - News du 2003-09-09
- ^ MacBidouille.com - News du 2002-10-16
- ^ Macrumors.com
- ^ "Team Stats". Folding@home. http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=teamstats. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
- ^ Graham, Jefferson (2006-01-10). "Jobs basks in iPod sales, plugs Macs with Intel chips". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2006-01-10-macworld_x.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
Categories: Apple Inc. | Macintosh websites
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