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darksithpro

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 27, 2016
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We see a lot of leaks all the time. Do you think it's sometimes done on purpose to build up hype and desire? lets say a company like Apple lets some stuff leak, the consumers go nuts over the product and in return more people line up to buy it at launch time?
 
Yes - you want to get people talking about you. I believe they may even "leak" things they never intend on doing just to get their competition scrambling, making mistakes along the way. Look at Samsung's last fiasco for instance - they were scrambling without safeguards and released exploding phones trying to beat Apple to market.
 
It deflates any artificial excitement and hype that you'd feel with a launch-day surprise, if you slowly learn more and more about something being launched in the future. So that's good and bad for a lot of different reasons.
 
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Depends on the situation. If you're the leader, it doesn't make sense to leak the juicy info that could cause people from buying your current offerings.

However, if you're new to the game, or have lagging sales, then yes. Leak the juicy details in order to get folks to not buy the competition and wait for your stuff.

Apple, however, operates differently than just about everyone else. They like to build hype by keeping as much secret and hidden as possible. Then upon the introduction, everyone goes nuts over the new product or features. Over the years, it's gotten harder and harder to keep this stuff secret. The last big secret reveal that I could remember was the iPad 2. Apple made it so thin and capable, that everyone else just threw away their iPad 1 competitors and started over.

EDIT - also, not sure how old any of you guys are, but there's a term called "Osborning". Refers to an old computer company that basically killed themselves because they announced the Osborne 2 so early, that no one bought the Osborne 1. Which caused them to not have enough revenue/profit to build the Osborne 2, which never came out.
 
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Leaks can be used offensively. Its very tricky to do right though.

For example the PS4 Pro was released, Microsoft just came out and said we have "Project Scorpio" coming which is a 4k console 6 teraflops blah blah.

That not only isn't a leak its done incorrectly because it creates the Osbourne Effect. Which is when a product is announced too early and it hurts the sales of your current products. Although Xbox sales seem to be doing ok regardless so its a moot point.

However now we have leaks for the PS5 which could come out in 2018 which is 10 teraflops. The source is the person that predicted the PS4 Pro and Slim. Why bother with Xbox when the PS5 will be even more powerful.

I don't think Apple intentionally leaks much because of the Osbourne Effect.

EDIT : Just notice the person above me already mentioned this.
 
term called "Osborning". Refers to an old computer company that basically killed themselves because they announced the Osborne 2 so early, that no one bought the Osborne 1. Which caused them to not have enough revenue/profit to build the Osborne 2, which never came out.

Wow - almost forgot the name Osborn. Hard to believe how long ago that was!
 
Some leaks could be strategically done to manage expectations. For example, the headphone jack. The rumours were there well ahead of launch. It was less of a shock when the announcement finally came because it was expected.
 
Real answer: nobody actually knows. Apple has reacted fairly negatively to leaks in the past, so I'd say "no," but nobody actually knows for sure, so
 
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