Macintouch has noted one explanation for the dearth of rumors concerning the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference: the company has bought the silence of many of the major news outlets. By providing items such as dual 2.5 Ghz G5s, Cinema Displays and Powerbooks to sites such as Macaddict.com and MacNN.com, Apple has ensured that they will not traffic in rumors of WWDC announcements.
This is not an unusual practice for the company.
What is unusual this time around is that Apple has similarly bought the silence of the major rumor sites.
According to sources, the rumor sites each received the following:
- Think Secret: an old OpenDoc install CD, two Newton 120s and a paper bag full of CEO Steve Jobs’ finger nail clippings.
- SpyMac: a Mac Portable, a set of OS 7.5 install floppy disks (missing the ColorSync and Extras disks) and a punch in the gut.
- MacOSRumors: An Apple QuickTake 100, some stickers touting CyberDog and a pair of Apple Senior Vice President of Retail Ron Johnson’s old socks.
- AppleInsider: a hockey puck mouse and a seductive wink from Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer.
- MacRumors: several threats of legal action followed by a tearful phone call at 3 A.M. from an audibly drunk Nancy Heinen asking for “one last chance to make it work.”
As for this site, rest assured that we would never compromise our ability to bring you the most comprehensive coverage of Apple rumors we can.
Um…
Yeah, they didn’t offer us anything.