Leaked: ****** Info!

[hayesk]

Originally posted by solvs
By threatening a lawsuit. Even if they won't win (or even go to court) Apple can send a form letter asking you to remove information. In this case, the info was public. Not under NDA. But they can still ask nicely.

Actually, could Apple win a lawsuit based reposting of copyrighted information?

I mean, I can't just start my own news site by copying and pasting from CNN every day. Isn't this similar?

Generally, Apple will issue a press release. Once that is done, then it becomes public information.

I could be wrong though.

 

[iDonkey]

i'm thinking hack

I agree with MacBandit and others that this is more likely a hack than not. Comparing the way the "leaked" spec information is presented against the way the same kind of information is presented for all of the other models on the rest of the site reveals too many inconsistencies in Apple's marketing communication styles and standards.

Others have said that the stylistic differences are minor, but taken as a whole, they seem to point to a poor "counterfeiting" job and very good "hack" job. Why wouldn't the hacker have taken more care to make the fake look more like the real thing? For the same reason so many people on the forums are buying into it -- he/she probably just didn't notice the differences. Obviously, technically competent and daring, but not design savvy.

Some immediate differences:

- Headlines should be black (as in "Powerful features and options" and other headlines in the store), not grey (as in the leaked "The world's fastest...");
- The grey used for the font is a darker shade than the grey font used across the rest of the site;
- The font for the product copy is larger than the font used in product copy for other hardware;
- Use of bullets in product copy (bullets are otherwise only used when describing Quark's features, not any of the other machines anywhere else);
- The ordering of the specs is inconsistent with the priority of features established elsewhere (RAM near the top instead of bottom, USB before FW, etc.);
- No mention of SuperDrive (either Combo Drive or SuperDrive on all models), a major feature, speed upgraded or not;
- The headline is "The world's fastest...", which would have been fine if this was the site's main splash page or in the hardware section, but every other headline for hardware in the store section talks about "features" and "options" since the focus now is configuring your machine, not explaining it;
- The style of writing is slightly different for most of the copy.

I point these differences out as a website copywriter and marketing communications professional. These are things you look out for when writing and designing a page -- consistency with the style (design-wise and tonally) of the rest of the website. It's a major part of the job -- not just listing out the specs for a new machine as a forum poster on a rumors site would. 😉

So, if this does turn out to be an actual screw up and not a hack, I'd fire the guy who leaked it/screwed up, as well as the copywriter and designer who put the description together -- for doing such a sloppy job. (Not really -- I actually feel pretty bad for everyone involved in this fiasco.)

My two cents -- and my attempt at an objective analysis in the midst of all the excitement!

 

[Panther]

I work on another computer manufacturer's website... and this kind of thing can happen all too easily...

One of the early posts here was a download of the save page together with all of the images. If you look at the images folder, the spec image is step1bullet1powermac.gif. Apple took down that image and replaced it with the original one... which is also called step1bullet1powermac.gif.

Someone checked the file out, replaced it with the new spec image and checked it back in, not knowing that someone else in the team was going to re-push the Store.

It sucks if you're the one that messes up that way, but reusing the same graphic like that is pretty common where I work... I'm amazed this stuff doesn't happen all the time 😱

The good news is that means this is what we're getting folks!

The bad news is the same Photoshop dude didn't mess up the PowerBook store at the same time, so I still don't know if I'm going to get the good news I'm looking for 😛

 

[Stella]

Why the bloody hell have 197 people rated this as NEGATIVE?!!!!

They aren't happy with dual 2gig 970 processors?

.. or are they just the PC using slashdot crowd?

 

[Ayre]

They're the skeptics, as am I. I rated the thread positively, but I still can't shake the feeling that this isn't for real.

However, Apple STILL hasn't mentioned anything about it being "hacked." (To my knowledge, at least.) If they don't say anything, and this all turns out to be faked, Apple could be in some serious ****.

Otherwise, bring on the G5s. ^_^ Par-tay!

 

[centauratlas]

"Architecture"

>look at the bottom of the page under "Architecture" it saysUp to 2GB memory, not the same as the top image of specs.<

That is because it is talking about the current G4 machines not the G5s....in the "Step 1:" image.

 

[soggywulf]

Originally posted by Stella
Why the bloody hell have 197 people rated this as NEGATIVE?!!!!

They aren't happy with dual 2gig 970 processors?

.. or are they just the PC using slashdot crowd?

Nah...prolly just ppl who don't believe it.

S-ATA, huh? Cool. Maybe this will kick S-ATA HD production into high gear, kinda like the orig iMac did with USB. Funny that Apple can make a difference sometimes, despite the 3% market share.

I wonder how many S-ATA ports it will have.

 

[bobindashadows]

Originally posted by Ayre
They're the skeptics, as am I. I rated the thread positively, but I still can't shake the feeling that this isn't for real.

However, Apple STILL hasn't mentioned anything about it being "hacked." (To my knowledge, at least.) If they don't say anything, and this all turns out to be faked, Apple could be in some serious ****.

Otherwise, bring on the G5s. ^_^ Par-tay!

Apple isn't going to say anything about getting hacked. If they say that now, then the stock will drop. Maybe not like a rock, but it will fall, since everybody thinks "awesome powermacs", and then it turns out that those weren't the real specs? BAD for the stock price.

In fact, if this was a hack, I can see little way of Apple recuperating from the stock fall after Monday. Because if they can't live up to this, they're screwed. If you can live up to this, then that's the only way the stock price won't drop like a rock. The last thing they need is to announce they were hacked and the specs are bull, then watch the stock sink today, then announce lackluster PowerMacs, and watch the stock sink further.

 

[greenstork]

The reason it is not a hack

The reason this is not a hack is because if these specs were not true, Apple would be bending over backwards not to disappoint people at the keynote. They would announce very very quickly that their system was hacked and misinformation was reported on their website.

Think about it, suppose the computers only go up to 1.6 or 1.8, with a 400MHz Bus. I don't think this is likely but for the sake of argument, let's say this was the case. Everyone thinks that these stats on their website represent what is to come on Monday. Under this scenario, EVERYONE would be disappointed, it would be a total letdown and that is tha last thing they want to do on Monday. If these stats are not true, they would denying them left and right today.

Whether it was an accident or purposeful is the only question I have left to answer. I'd probably lean towards purposeful if we don't hear about someone getting canned and telling his story after WWDC.

edit: I strongly diasagree with the previous post. The absolute LAST thing Apple wants to do is set people up to be disappointed on Monday. If it was a hack and the specs were false, they would fall on that grenade today to keep the vibes as positive as possible on Monday. By your argument (that I don't really agree with) the stock will fall either way, be it today or Monday. Apple would definitely not want to take away from the excitement of the keynote by waiting until Monday to disappoint investors.

I personally don't think the stock will be affected by new computers being 1.8 GHz instead of 2.0 GHz or a 800 MHz FSB vs a 1 GHz Bus

edit 2: I agree that it could be a hack but only if indeed these specs are true.

 

[mkaake]

arn, would it be fair of me to assume at this point that out of repsect for you and apple we shouldnt' re-post the info or pics now?

matt

 

[centauratlas]

Copyright

>could Apple win a lawsuit based reposting of copyrighted information?<

There are lots of issues here:
1. Posting the *image* would be a copyright violation, BUT then you have to consider fair use in which case it could be ok.
2. Information (or facts) itself can't be copyrighted. For example, I can copyright something "President Bush owns a plaid polyester jacket but it may never leave his closet." That exact phrasing and wording can be protected by copyright. However the *fact* that he owns a plaid polysester jacket or that it is in his closet can not be. So someone else could write "Pres Bush has a plaid polyester jacket that he keeps in his closet" without violating my copyright. Also, someone else could write the 1st sentence as long as they didn't copy me doing it - for example, two reporters could write the same sentence and as long as neither copied the other, they could have the same words.

So for here, MacOSR could report the pertinant facts without violating Apple's copyright, but re-posting the image *could* do so.

There are other issues involved here besides copyright, by the way, but that is a very brief, non-thorough explanation of it.

 

[-hh]

The week ahead

Originally posted by TheOne
This will be one of the biggest 3-4 days for me in a long time to come... Apple "acidently" releases the specs early on Thursday/Friday depending on your time zone. Then on Saturday Year 5 of Harry Potter! Saturday/Sunday, reading Harry Potter Year 5. Then on monday WWDC Keynote, then my Graduation Party! Finally on Tuesday I order my G5 😀

If it was a purposeful "accidental" leak, the timing couldn't be better than the wee early hours of Thursday Night/Friday AM:

FRIDAY:

- the news media still has their "weekday guys" on duty when the rumor hits.

- they only have one business day to run around like madmen to write up the "news". Wild speculation & rumors abound.

- Some of Harry Potter's news momentum is replaced with Apple "Growlings" (afterall, that is what a big mean cat does!)

- Apple HQ only has to stonewall any formal responses for a single business day.

- the weekday news guys who weren't planning on attending the WWDC spend Friday afternoon convincing their bosses that the potential news is BIG and that they need to go.


SATURDAY:

- these news guys hop on Saturday flights

- lots of MacCommunity percolation of impact. The newsguys start to write their "color" background for Monday's story.

- Bill Gates has second sleepless night


SUNDAY:

- MacFaithful start to line up for Monday

- Newsguys note this in their copy; submit story/photo's. More free press.

- Steve is cornered by someone & makes cryptic comment and/or a teaser appears on Apple Website.


MONDAY:

- Lots of excitement on the floor.

- Some serious ticket scalping going on prior to keynote. Newsguys make more notes for Tuesday's copy.

- Whatever the full news is, is. Expect Steve to try to make a clever "cat" joke.


TUESDAY:

- The first real full news stories hit. Articles are given ~4x the space than it would have otherwise been without Friday's boo-boo.

- Investor discussions/speculation on Apple-Microsoft OS battles are reinvigorated.


WEDNESDAY:

- Report on how quickly it took Apple to completely sell out prepositioned inventory (I'll say 2.0 hours). Is compared in the news media to the feeding frenzy of major Rock Music concert sales events.


THURSDAY:

- First full reviews, including independent benchmarks.

- We learn that Apple's internal Codeword for the project was: "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".



FRIDAY:

- inappropriate complaints on how Apple underestimated customer demand begin. 😀


-hh

 

[fpnc]

People have rated this article negative because they believe that the specs are fake.

I'm certain that they are untrue also. It was either a hack of the web site __or__ an internal Apple prank that went horribly wrong (i.e. someone was playing a little "joke" but they never expected the file to get posted).

As far as what Apple can do about this, they are damned if they do and damned it they don't. So, I expect they will try to ignore this as best as they can and just let it play out until Monday's WWDC. The only reason they would make an official comment about this "leak" before then is if they are forced to by the SEC or some other government agency.

The speculation that this was done purposely by Apple is just crazy. Since such information could affect their stock price I think they could be liable for damages (stock goes up or down, someone sues).

 

[tYNS]

Re: i'm thinking hack

Originally posted by iDonkey
I agree with MacBandit and others that this is more likely a hack than not. Comparing the way the "leaked" spec information is presented against the way the same kind of information is presented for all of the other models on the rest of the site reveals too many inconsistencies in Apple's marketing communication styles and standards.

I must agree... This is a HAck ..

The BIGGEST clue is the fact they spelt POWER MAC incorrectly.

It is spelt as PowerMac G4 ... Not Power Mac G4 ... (missing the space)..

Another thing. If they put all that effort into redoing the apparent G5 spec list why did they not rename the Header graphic as "Choose your Power Mac G5"

where did the "Step One" go?

I think whoever did this was in a rush.. and ended up missing key elements to make it truly real. hyphens beside the points? apple never does this..

But the PowerMac missing a space between the name is the key validator to this scam.

 

[iLilana]

plea to steve jobs

Hi this post is directed at Steve Jobs because I know he's reading them.

I have heard of your heavy handed nature when it comes to things like this little accident. We've all come to three general conclusions.

A) You did this to test the water/make us drool.

B) Apple site was hacked.

C) It happened because of software and web people made a significant but human error.

Now if 'C' is true I would hope that you go easy on the people involved. Sure they get paid WAY more than I do to do things and more is expected from them but they are people who work damn hard for you. Yes they work for YOU. They all treat you as a rockstar (both good and bad traites) so please be kind to them. No one should be losing a job over this and we will all buy your stuff anyway.

Thanks

 

[yzedf]

Re: i'm thinking hack

Originally posted by iDonkey
I agree with MacBandit and others that this is more likely a hack than not. Comparing the way the "leaked" spec information is presented against the way the same kind of information is presented for all of the other models on the rest of the site reveals too many inconsistencies in Apple's marketing communication styles and standards.

Others have said that the stylistic differences are minor, but taken as a whole, they seem to point to a poor "counterfeiting" job and very good "hack" job. Why wouldn't the hacker have taken more care to make the fake look more like the real thing? For the same reason so many people on the forums are buying into it -- he/she probably just didn't notice the differences. Obviously, technically competent and daring, but not design savvy.

Some immediate differences:

- Headlines should be black (as in "Powerful features and options" and other headlines in the store), not grey (as in the leaked "The world's fastest...");
- The grey used for the font is a darker shade than the grey font used across the rest of the site;
- The font for the product copy is larger than the font used in product copy for other hardware;
- Use of bullets in product copy (bullets are otherwise only used when describing Quark's features, not any of the other machines anywhere else);
- The ordering of the specs is inconsistent with the priority of features established elsewhere (RAM near the top instead of bottom, USB before FW, etc.);
- No mention of SuperDrive (either Combo Drive or SuperDrive on all models), a major feature, speed upgraded or not;
- The headline is "The world's fastest...", which would have been fine if this was the site's main splash page or in the hardware section, but every other headline for hardware in the store section talks about "features" and "options" since the focus now is configuring your machine, not explaining it;
- The style of writing is slightly different for most of the copy.

I point these differences out as a website copywriter and marketing communications professional. These are things you look out for when writing and designing a page -- consistency with the style (design-wise and tonally) of the rest of the website. It's a major part of the job -- not just listing out the specs for a new machine as a forum poster on a rumors site would. 😉

So, if this does turn out to be an actual screw up and not a hack, I'd fire the guy who leaked it/screwed up, as well as the copywriter and designer who put the description together -- for doing such a sloppy job. (Not really -- I actually feel pretty bad for everyone involved in this fiasco.)

My two cents -- and my attempt at an objective analysis in the midst of all the excitement!

Might be a hack after all...

http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26340

Not too many mainstream people will notice / care... so it could end up being no big deal.

 

[moosecat]

Originally posted by bobindashadows
Apple isn't going to say anything about getting hacked. If they say that now, then the stock will drop. Maybe not like a rock, but it will fall, since everybody thinks "awesome powermacs", and then it turns out that those weren't the real specs? BAD for the stock price.

That's exactly why someone suggested they would be in trouble if they don't disclose that this is a hack. Companies can't just willy-nilly decide to withhold things from the investing public because it would be bad for the stock price to disclose it. In fact, often they MUST disclose things BECAUSE it will be bad for the stock price. A little organization called the Securities and Exchange Commission believes very strongly in this idea.

Whether they are under a specific legal obligation to correct this "error" (assuming for the moment it is a hack) is not immediately clear to me, but plaintiffs' lawyers would give it the old college try, I'm sure. If you put erroneous information into the market that is material (i.e., affects the stock price), then you'd better correct it. Stockholders don't care if it was Steve Jobs or Joe Apple Schmoe who hacked it.

 

[scem0]

If I was to hack into the apple site, which (to my understanding) would be very hard to do. I wouldn't change one little thing like that and then leave.

I think that was a ginuine apple mistake. 🙂

At least I hope it was. Lord knows they make a lot of them.

 

[greenstork]

Originally posted by moosecat
If you put erroneous information into the market that is material (i.e., affects the stock price), then you'd better correct it. Stockholders don't care if it was Steve Jobs or Joe Apple Schmoe who hacked it.

Yet another reason why these specs are likely true, hack or no hack.

 

[ant_s]

Re: Re: i'm thinking hack

Originally posted by tYNS
I must agree... This is a HAck ..

The BIGGEST clue is the fact they spelt POWER MAC incorrectly.

It is spelt as PowerMac G4 ... Not Power Mac G4 ... (missing the space)..

Take a look atthe Apple UK Store here - they spell it Power Mac G4.

No, I didn't realise that until today, either 🙂


Let's hope these specs are true, even if only in part...

Monday will let us know

 

[bokdol]

why i believe it is not a hack. which is the same reason that most have given before hand. if it was a hack. people at apple would have to have said something to that fact. being that it afected there market share. but on thing i noticed is that thorugh out the site some changes have been made. it's like they were doing minor updates and they put in the wrong jpeg or gif. i noticed that the buttons in the choose your shool section of edu part was different then what i remembered. and this was after the "mistake". so i think they were just puting up replacement gif for buttons and someone sliped 2 extra in....

 

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by marcsiry
Apple has NEVER called a machine by the part number of the chip inside.

While I agree that it's unlikely to bear the 970 moniker as part of the product name, let's not forget the SE/30. 🙂

 

[paulypants]

Working in a marketing environment...it is sometimes common practice for a
company to purposely leak it's own product info prior to release in order to generate more interest before the actual announcement of the product is made publicly. Creating a frenzied discussion and heightened buzz days before the actual announcement has proven to equate to more sales directly after the release of the product, while also helping to gain the momentum of the product for the media response
--just a thought😉

 

[richard5mith]

To the people who think this was a hack (which I don't think it was), may I ask why?

Is it because the specs are not good enough, better than you expected or because you don't believe 970's are coming on Monday?

Just curious.

 

[bokdol]

NOT HACK

Originally posted by ant_s
Take a look atthe Apple UK Store here - they spell it Power Mac G4.

No, I didn't realise that until today, either 🙂


Let's hope these specs are true, even if only in part...

Monday will let us know

plese note that the powerbook is spelled PowerBook....no space
there is no step 1 wording in choose your powerbook G4 and it is all green type.

actually all the other products have the green type and no step 1. so that "hack" or mistake, i believe was real.

they were just updating the site to match the rest of the site....