Unearthed TV News Clip Recounts One of Apple's Biggest Leaks of the Late 80s

[MacRumors]

If MacRumors gave out an award for Most Revealing Apple Leak of the Year, there's a good chance the plaudits for 2017 would go to Apple's unintentional public release of HomePod firmware. Apple's beta code turned out to include a trove of intriguing references to upcoming products yet to be announced, including the Apple Watch Series 3, the so-called "iPhone 8", and a fifth-generation Apple TV.

Still, that pales in comparison to at least one Apple leak of yore that has just been unearthed by Fast Company, proving that Cupertino was unable to keep its secrets behind lock and key long before the era of social media and 24-hour online news coverage.

The video below is a local news item from San Francisco's KGO, broadcast back in February 1988, which features an interview with late tech-media pioneer and Macintosh Today magazine founder David Bunnell.

In the short clip, Bunnell tells news anchors how his publication managed to get hold of a 160-page internal Apple document laying out detailed plans for the Macintosh Portable, the company's first mobile computer, several months before its official unveiling the following September.

During the exchange, news anchor Pete Wilson asks Bunnell if the whole leak could be a secret ploy by Apple - perhaps in collusion with the magazine - to drum up interest in the computer ahead of its release. Bunnell refutes the suggestion, claiming that Apple doesn't like to pre-announce products and prefers to control the information that comes out of the company.

Whatever the truth on this occasion, as Fast Company notes, even a massive leak such as Bunnell's scoop couldn't save the Macintosh Portable, which turned out to be a flop for Apple, before being superseded by the vastly superior PowerBook in 1991.

Article Link: Unearthed TV News Clip Recounts One of Apple's Biggest Leaks of the Late 80s

 

[Sunny1990]

I think iPhone 4 was probably the biggest leak in Apple's history. Nothing will ever beat the it.

 

[RightMACatU]

Collusion, oh my!
In other related news, Elvis still not dead.

 

[ammon]

Wow, a 12 lb Mac - Everyone wants one of those!

It really puts current laptop weights in perspective...

 

[Spock]

Wow, a 12 lb Mac - Everyone wants one of those!

It really puts current laptop weights in perspective...

Yeah, I catch myself complaining about how heavy my old 2011 15 inch MacBook Pro weights.

 

[mr.steevo]

I think iPhone 4 was probably the biggest leak in Apple's history. Nothing will ever beat the it.

That was a gooder for sure!

I'm also thinking of when Time magazine had the G4 iMac on it's front cover prior to the announcement by Steve Jobs.

 

[mrr]

I remember all the rumors that surrounded the original Macintosh 128 prior to the launch on January 24, 1984. Many of them turned out to be right on the money with the exception of the price. Most people expected it to cost $999 to compete with the IBM Peanut (IBM jr) but when released, it cost $2495. Ouch.

 

[NMBob]

Is Bunnell wearing a Mood Ring?

 

[fathergll]

I think iPhone 4 was probably the biggest leak in Apple's history. Nothing will ever beat the it.

Was that time the guy left the iPhone in the bar?

 

[DotCom2]

Was that time the guy left the iPhone in the bar?

Yes.
I wonder what ever happened to THAT guy?

 

[Jimmy James]

Yes.
I wonder what ever happened to THAT guy?

His family wonders too.

 

[armhol]

If MacRumors gave out an award for Most Revealing Apple Leak of the Year, there's a good chance the plaudits for 2017 would go to Apple's unintentional public release of HomePod firmware. Apple's beta code turned out to include a trove of intriguing references to upcoming products yet to be announced, including the Apple Watch Series 3, the so-called "iPhone 8", and a fifth-generation Apple TV.

Still, that pales in comparison to at least one Apple leak of yore that has just been unearthed by Fast Company, proving that Cupertino was unable to keep its secrets behind lock and key long before the era of social media and 24-hour online news coverage.

The video below is a local news item from San Francisco's KGO, broadcast back in February 1988, which features an interview with late tech-media pioneer and Macintosh Today magazine founder David Bunnell.

In the short clip, Bunnell tells news anchors how his publication managed to get hold of a 160-page internal Apple document laying out detailed plans for the Macintosh Portable, the company's first mobile computer, a full six months before its official unveiling later that year.

During the exchange, news anchor Pete Wilson asks Bunnell if the whole leak could be a secret ploy by Apple - perhaps in collusion with the magazine - to drum up interest in the computer ahead of its release. Bunnell refutes the suggestion, claiming that Apple doesn't like to pre-announce products and prefers to control the information that comes out of the company.

Whatever the truth on this occasion, as Fast Company notes, even a massive leak such as Bunnell's scoop couldn't save the Macintosh Portable, which turned out to be a flop for Apple, before being superseded by the vastly superior PowerBook in 1991.

Article Link: Unearthed TV News Clip Recounts One of Apple's Biggest Leaks of the Late 80s

[doublepost=1503332479][/doublepost]If this was broadcast back in February 1988 and the Portable was released on September 20, 1989 surely this was a full 18 months before the release and not 6 months as stated? Or was the unveiling 12 months before release?

 

[satchmo]

I miss those blurry photos of boxes being unloaded at MacWorld expos.

That left some mystery and made for a greater wow factor when Jobs went on stage and did his thing.

Today, we basically know what it looks like right down to full video mock ups.

 

[timmyh]

[doublepost=1503332479][/doublepost]If this was broadcast back in February 1988 and the Portable was released on September 20, 1989 surely this was a full 18 months before the release and not 6 months as stated?

Corrected!

 

[apolloa]

If MacRumors gave out an award for Most Revealing Apple Leak of the Year, there's a good chance the plaudits for 2017 would go to Apple's unintentional public release of HomePod firmware. Apple's beta code turned out to include a trove of intriguing references to upcoming products yet to be announced, including the Apple Watch Series 3, the so-called "iPhone 8", and a fifth-generation Apple TV

Except you MacRumors have absolutely no idea what so ever that it wasn't a deliberate leak by Apple considering the firmware was for beta testers, you are claiming Apple had no idea what was in its own firmware it released on purpose and as planned to public beta testers...
It was a planned leak by Apple, unless you can prove an Apple employee high up the chain of command claims otherwise..

 

[adamjackson]

Arn, did you do this? Revealing Mac Rumors back in 1988!

 

[macTW]

Skeptical this was accidental. Of course the man who's job relies on the "accident" would say it was one.

 

[Justim]

Whaaaat are those hand movements. They're creepy with his stiff upper body and don't match what he's saying.

 

[musukosan]

I think the most interesting part of this video is how different the news reporting is.

 

[Darren Beauchamp]

Whaaaat are those hand movements. They're creepy with his stiff upper body and don't match what he's saying.

Yeah, he looks as if there were a guy behind him holding a gun against his back.
[doublepost=1503386564][/doublepost]Wait, maybe there was a guy with a gun - an Apple PR person, threatening him into saying it was an accidental leak

 

[Mobile_Suit_GUNDAM]

yes, developer note always spotlight what going on