Apple Shifting Tactics on Suppressing Product Leaks?

[MacRumors]

Nick Ciarelli describes a recent shift in Apple's strategy to suppress product leaks in an article at The Daily Beast.

But lately, there are signs that Apple—long the most secretive company in the tech world—has thrown in the towel on fighting leaks. This year, advance details about a number of Apple products spilled onto the web, including photos of the iPhone 3G and the latest lineup of iPod nanos.

Recent product photo leaks including the 4th Generation iPod Nano and iPhone 3G have been left unchallenged by Apple's legal team, whereas, historically, Apple would have issued cease and desist letters to websites hosting such images.

Ciarelli speculates that this change reflects that the fact that Apple rumors are now regularly published by mainstream sites which may not as easily cave to Apple's demands. Apple's previous legal attempts have also legitimized the Apple rumor community and have failed to produce the identities of the leakers.

Ciarelli, himself, is intimately familiar with the topic as he was the owner and editor of ThinkSecret.com, an Apple rumor site that was sued by Apple for the identity of his sources. Apple and ThinkSecret settled in December 2007 in which Ciarelli agreed to shut down the site, but did not reveal any of his sources.


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[Tallest Skil]

Say your goodbyes, everyone, we're done for!

Yeah, right.

[dohardthings]

my guess is that this is a high calaber hide for the macbook releases

[happydude]

i've gotta assume the rumor sites and picture leaks only add to the hype of new product releases, so wouldn't apple be in favor of keeping the rumors sites around?! every photo that gets leaked, fake or not, makes some sort of publication - online or otherwise. free advertising is priceless.

[flottenheimer]

Apple has learned to love all the free marketing we're drumming up for them.
I still think Steve's a little bothered though. He obviously likes as much "wow!" as possible for his keynotes.

[Beric]

If so, where's the info on the Macbooks?

My own opinion is that the case manufacturers for the iPods revealed too much last press release (Let's Rock), and Apple is keeping things under wraps more than ever. Steve did say they would be way more careful. I'm speculating that's why we haven't heard much as of late.

[Breegy]

Originally Posted by happydude

i've gotta assume the rumor sites and picture leaks only add to the hype of new product releases, so wouldn't apple be in favor of keeping the rumors sites around?! every photo that gets leaked, fake or not, makes some sort of publication - online or otherwise. free advertising is priceless.

But this also stops people from buying the current products. Getting rid of the old inventory is why they never announce products ahead of time. They make more money of people buy up the products, ignorant of when updated ones are released, then even more people become interested when there is something new and some even sell their old products to get the new product.

[thacube]

probably better for Apple. If a site receives a letter from Apple legal, it can be seen as a confirmation of the story's accuracy. if Apple doesn't respond to any, it leaves people wondering what's real and what's fake

[Loge]

OK, so where are the new Macbook pics?

And if there's no more cease and desist orders, how will we tell the genuine leaks from the fakes?

[thacube]

Originally Posted by Loge

And if there's no more cease and desist orders, how will we tell the genuine leaks from the fakes?

probably their reason for doing it... Apple may also be tired of responding to "Steve Job is dead" stories?

[tMac85]

yeah , give us something on the macbooks. maybe a case leak or something!!!! please please. i got my $$ money ready either way, i just want to know what its gonna look like.

[Breegy]

Originally Posted by thacube

probably their reason for doing it... Apple may also be tired of responding to "Steve Job is dead" stories?

Lol, seriously. How awful is that?

Steve wakes up in the morning, flicks on his Mac and sees headlines that he's dead. I wonder if he ever wonders if he really did die? Like he has to go ask his wife, "Am I alive or is this heaven/hell?"

Originally Posted by tMac85

yeah , give us something on the macbooks. maybe a case leak or something!!!! please please. i got my $$ money ready either way, i just want to know what its gonna look like.

I just want to know when. I mean, October 14th is what everyone says, but it's still a rumor.

[DTphonehome]

Awww, they're taking all the fun out of it!

[flottenheimer]

Originally Posted by Beric

If so, where's the info on the Macbooks?

There's a huge difference between "actively leaking" and "fighting leaks".

For info on the new macbooks... simply scroll through the last 3 months of MacRumors rumors. You'll find plenty.

[twoodcc]

i don't know, i really don't think they are really shifting tactics. i wouldn't be surprised if they start sending cease letters next time this happens

[Small White Car]

Originally Posted by happydude

i've gotta assume the rumor sites and picture leaks only add to the hype of new product releases, so wouldn't apple be in favor of keeping the rumors sites around?! every photo that gets leaked, fake or not, makes some sort of publication - online or otherwise. free advertising is priceless.

Were you not around for the iPod Mini? All the rumor sites said it would be $199, but it was actually $249. (If I'm wrong it was something like that, where the rumor was lower than the real price.)

Because of that, the 'net was pretty hostile in all of is reviews. "Overpriced" was the main conclusion.

Of course, it wasn't too expensive, as proven by the fact that it was sold out for months. The Mini was priced just fine.

But the fact remained that it got crappy reviews for weeks simply because of the rumor sites' guesses.

Not all publicity is good publicity.

[gkarris]

I've told people of the rumors of price drops and new MacBooks. Some don't care and went out and bought anyways. They said "I want a Mac now...."

Some are waiting. I don't think that Apple product leaks are going to stop anyone from buying Apple products.

The only thing Apple leaks does is keep people from buying PC and Windows products...

[plumbingandtech]

Arn renames site:

MacTruthiness.com

[rockstarjoe]

I think Apple likes to "selectively leak" certain info. Some things they let slip, some they keep secret.

[Wotan31]

Originally Posted by flottenheimer

Apple has learned to love all the free marketing we're drumming up for them.
I still think Steve's a little bothered though. He obviously likes as much "wow!" as possible for his keynotes.

I think Steve-O sees his stock price tumbling and decided some additional product hype can only be a good thing.

[ncbill]

Apple's doing pretty well at containing leaks considering that only one week out from a rumored notebook introduction we have neither product photos or even specifications on the alleged new models.

[Rojo]

As much as I love to know what's coming up, I admit all the leaks have taken the fun out of the keynotes -- once-exciting events that have gotten increasingly more dull. Knowing stuff soooooo much in advance makes all of their products a lot less special when they DO come out, making stuff that would usually have a "wow" factor suddenly feel like "seen it before..."

Heck, the "genius" playlist feature they unveiled recently is really NOT a big deal when you think about it, but everyone responded so well to it because it was one of the very few unexpected surprises that people didn't know about months in advance. Just think how much more exciting some of the other cool products and changes recently would have been if they really were a secret up until they were publicly unveiled. I think people would be a lot more excited about what's out now, instead of always waiting to hear about the next thing...hoping it's better.

[dhc]

Originally Posted by rockstarjoe

I think Apple likes to "selectively leak" certain info. Some things they let slip, some they keep secret.

Tend to agree with this. I'm certain they play the game to their advantage - and why not? Call me a conspiracist, but I can't help but feel that there's someone pulling the strings behind 9to5 mac.com...

[specialbuddy]

Well it's confirmed that macbooks will not be here on Oct. 14th. If the rumor was true then we would have seen one by now

[blairwillis]

"Never believe anything until it's been officially denied."