“It turns out we were almost all wrong.” A concerned public servant once said about the existence of illicit weapons in a certain Middle Eastern country. That same quote now applies to Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference 2007, where nearly every single rumor that circulated around the Internet was completely wrong. No new iMacs; no new iPods; the 17-inch iMac and Mac mini are still for sale; nothing.
These rampant and apparently baseless rumors are beginning to hurt Apple’s image, methinks.
The general consensus on this year’s WWDC, at least going by the response of a few message boards I’ve cruised and our own professional opinion, is that WWDC stunk. Nothing happened. The headline is “Apple Releases Safari for Windows.” That could have happened any other day of the year and it would’ve been fine. But nope, ’twas hype that killed WWDC.
For what seems like the past 200 years, we’ve been reading and passing the word along about rumor after rumor about what was going to be released at WWDC. There were early rumors of a black iMac, but a quick look at the new Apple Store shows no such computer. Neither will you find a newly designed iMac. And last I checked, the 17-inch iMac is still with us.
There were no “top secret” Leopard announcements, unless, of course, you consider the improvements to iChat “top secret” new features. We don’t.
No Wi-Fi iPhone, no 3G iPhone. Nothing.
Essentially, all the hype created by the endless stream of rumors sorta killed this year’s WWDC for us. Sure, Safari is cool and all (well, about as “cool” as a Web browser can be), but isn’t it funny that the “one more thing” wasn’t even so much as hinted in all these rumors?
Where the hell do these rumors come from?
And why do we all get so hot and bothered by them?
Safari is cool???? Explain to me why this is, I am using it right now and I don’t feel a bit cooler. How deluded are Apple freaks to proclaim that a Windows Beta of Safari, which to me, seems less functional, buggy and dumbed down as compared to FireFox and IE, as cool. Puhleeeese, try to stay away from the Kool Aid for a day or two.
To release Safari for Windows is a really wise thing. Windows based web developers can check their stuff on Safari too from now, and the iPhone’s browser is Safari based too. It really doesn’t matter how good is the browser itself.
> These rampant and apparently baseless rumors are beginning
> to hurt Apple’s image, methinks.
The only thing that have been hurt are the rumors itself.
“These rampant and apparently baseless rumors are beginning to hurt Apple’s image, methinks.”
Huh? Even if that statement is partially true who’s fault is that? Those that release the baseless rumors (e.g. crunchgear) or those that believe in them (e.g. crunchgear)?
For most consumers - these run away rumors don’t impact buying decisions.
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/06/08/apple_al_imac/
^ This article clearly adopts a very informative tone, which proves two things. One, it takes rumors with caution, disproving your wild, ill-founded assertion that everyone is getting “hot and bothered”. Two, the word usage in the article contradicts your assertion. The article makes a clear distinction between facts and claims, phrasing its report in a way that reflects these distinctions.
http://www.macrumors.com/2007/06/07/brushed-aluminum-imac-at-wwdc/
^ The same holds true for this article. You’ll notice that the two articles so far both had question marks in their title, indicating that it’s a possibility, not a certainty. No one is taking these rumors for religious texts and betting the farm on them.
Your broad condemnation is a thin veil for the disappointment you personally hold. If that is the case, then so be it. We would all like to see more and more from Apple, yet that does not necessitate a categorical classification of anyone and everyone who has ever read a rumor about Apple.
Some people have the ability to rationalize. Nay, most do.
As for you, Nicholas Deleon, you shame yourself, CrunchGear by purporting such nonsensical incoherence, and predicating that jumble on hearsay (i.e. “The general consensus on this year’s WWDC, at least going by the response of a few message boards I’ve cruised and our own professional opinion, is that WWDC stunk.”)
I’m not really an Apple fanboy, but based on the banner you yourself have so graciously posted, it would appear that WWDC isn’t over… A prematurely posted article? Or just foolishness?
Youthinks whatever you like, but don’t blather about it so brazenly. I echo teki’s sentiment: “The only thing that have been hurt are the rumors itself [sic].”
Meaning, your article doesn’t make any sense.