MacMost Now 222: Where Apple Rumors Come From

Take a look at the six sources of Apple rumors. Understanding where Apple rumors originate helps to explain why some rumors are right, and others are very wrong.
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Video Transcript: Hi. This is Gary with MacMost Now.  This episode is brought to you by Squarespace.  For a great way to build your own website, visit MacMost.com/squarespace.  On this episode, let's examine Apple rumors and where they come from.  Apple rumors typically come from a few different sources, and knowing these resources can give you some idea; sometimes they're right and sometimes they're very wrong.  Let's go and take a look at the six main sources of Apple rumors.  Now one source of rumor has come under a lot of scrutiny recently.  And this is the Wall Street analyst.  Now, financial analysts basically paid to go and comment on what they think Apple is going to be doing in the future or how they thing their financials are going to be in the next quarter.  A lot of times this is pure speculation, and it's not really based on any kind of fact.  But, other media, say the tech media, report this as having some meat to it, that maybe there is some inside information there, and that could lead to a rumor that really has no basis and will be completely wrong.  Other times, of course as we've learned, the analyst is simply just playing with us in order to manipulate the stock.  Another very interesting source of rumors is from people that watch factories usually in the east.  And these factories are the ones that produce the parts for Apple computers, Ipods, Iphones and the like.  And they'll go and watch the different orders that these factories have.  And say, if there's an order for 10-inch touch screens, and it looks like the order may be from Apple, then they can speculate that there's going to be a new product out that will use these 10-inch touch screens and speculate on what that may be.  We hear a lot of good rumors and sometimes it turns out to be a good source of information and other times that it ends up to be nothing.  Sometimes the rumors come from a simpler place; they come from simply watching the calendar.  Now there are those that go ahead and look at the product cycles for say, iMacs, and well, decide that it's due for a refresh.  And if there's a big announcement coming out from Apple, they figure that the refresh has gotta be about iMacs, because that's what's new now.  Now a lot of times, this actually ends up being spot on.  But other times it can be a little misleading.  Sometimes things like the Mac Mini take a long time to update.  And other times, things like Mac Books could be updated fairly soon.  
Now, I probably shouldn't go too far without looking at the obvious source, which is the insider leak.  Now, the rumor happens when someone from Apple leaks some information to the press. Now, this is really rare, and of course it's frowned upon by Apple.  As a matter of fact, they've been known to fire people for leaking any information. So the organization seems to be pretty air tight right now, and some information that's come from leaks recently have been completely wrong.  So, we might want to assume that there's not going to be any rumors coming in the near future from straight forward insider leaks.  
Now a good source of information often comes from retail stores.  Just before Apple ships a product sometimes these stores get updates from their inventory about what's coming in.  And sometimes that product could be exactly what Apple's about to announce. Now, this is a great source of information, except that sometimes the information is coming from an unreliable source.  Somebody saying they saw something on the computer, and they actually didn't.  So, you still have to take it with a grain of salt.
Another good source of information over the years has been to look at Apple's own software.  You see deep down in the code for Mac OS10 or iPhone OS, there's sometimes product names and product numbers.  So you can sometimes look at those, look deep down in the code and find these names and product numbers and predict what products out there Apple is testing so that they need them in that software and predict that possibly they'll be coming out with these soon.  So sometimes the new model number for an Iphone or a new model of a Mac Book computers and this is giving away a few of Apple's developments before.  But it can be unreliable.  Sometimes these products are simply products that they're testing in house or things that they themselves are speculating they may come out with in the future.  
So at MacMost, we love keeping track of the Apple product rumors as much as everybody else.  As a matter of fact, we have a part of our website, MacMost.com/rumors, that's specifically for looking at articles from around the Internet about current rumors.  But, it's important to remember that a lot of times rumors just don't come true.  I mean, look how many times a touch or tablet kind of Mac hasn't come out.  And then, of course, there's those outrageous rumors like the iPhone that actually happened.  So, it's fun to track the rumors as long as you don't take them too seriously.  
Til next time, this is Gary Rosenzweig with MacMost Now.
MacMost Now 222: Where Apple Rumors Come From

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