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Apple rumor community
In this article, the term Apple rumor community refers to the community surrounding rumors concerning Apple Inc. and its products, including the Macintosh and iPod. 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 every move.
HistoryThe 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. 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 MacOSRumors 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 SitesMacOSRumorsRun by Ryan Meader for over twelve years, MacOSRumors originally collected content from message boards and usenet posts but later developed contacts inside Apple. MacOSRumors was the first site to announce, among other things, the new case design used with the G4 towers. MacOSRumors tried to spread its popularity to other sites, including InternetWeather.com, a plan that was later scrapped. In the past few years, however, MacOSRumors has gained a reputation for being notoriously inaccurate with many claims that the content is fabricated http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/10/05/rumor-apple-tv-to-gain-hd-content-optical-drive. Meader had allowed the MacOSRumors domain name to expire around July 16th, 2007, but then renewed the domain for another nine years and announced the addition of a new staff writer. ThinkSecretThink Secret appeared in 1999 and had been deemed a reliable source of Mac-related rumors. 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 the 14th February 2008[2]. This is the only time the company has taken action against a web site under trade secrets law. Following the lawsuit, the accuracy and validity of ThinkSecret's reports had greatly fallen, with the site usually rehashing reports from AppleInsider and MacRumors. 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. Long recurring rumors that came true1990s
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Current WebsitesThe 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 Mac9 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[3], which Apple later demanded to be removed, as well as leaking information about the iPod touch. 9 to 5 Mac are now widely believed to have a real source inside Apple and are currently one of the most believed rumor sites. 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.[4]. 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/HardMacThe French site MacBidouille used to report rumors, although they stopped for multiple reasons.[5] However, they still "speculate" from time to time, such as for the release of the G5.[6] 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
MacScoopInitiated 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.[7] 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.[8] Other SitesThe following sites are not considered major sources of rumors.
Extra-community activitiesThe 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.[9] Apple's responseApple's official stance on the Mac rumor scene has been one of disapproval. 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 most 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.[10] The domain SuperSecretAppleRumors.com, was registered by a member of said community, and used to redirect to the rumor site AppleNova. See also
External linksBelow are some of the biggest rumor sites.
References
Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article 
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