How Dicey Rumours Get From Apple to Your Computer Screen ⇥ macworld.com

Macworld published two separate articles in the past few days about the recently contradictory and ever-changing Apple rumour mill. The first is by Jason Cross:

Apple is a famously secretive company, and the rumor mill for its upcoming products has never been particularly reliable or steady. And the further in the future you try to predict, the worse it gets.

But lately, it seems even our most reliable analysts, leakers, and supply chain watchers are all over the place. Their predictions disagree with one another and then turn around entirely.

And the second from Dan Moren:

The most important thing to remember about Apple rumors is the things they lack visibility into. Details like marketing and pricing, for example, tend to be far more closely held, since that information is generally the purview of the company’s high-level executives, and just doesn’t make its way down to the supply chain.

Cross is a senior editor at Macworld, pleading with analysts and reporters to “step back, take a deep breath, and give it a little time” before rushing to publish the latest rumour. But, as he documents in his article, his very publication often rushes to cover whatever is the most recent version of the iPhone 15’s volume buttons or the augmented reality headset.

This is an editorial policy which can change; Cross and fellow rumour enthusiast Michael Simon — who is the executive editor of Macworld — can make that decision.

Obviously, reasons for their not doing so may be reflective of search traffic, competitiveness, or a desire to be viewed as always current. Those are also editorial choices which may be weighed against the repetitional risk of running rumours which are questionable. It seems as though Macworld has made its choice about the balance it would like to strike, which makes it look a little rich publishing articles decrying the mercurial rumour mill.