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Sunday, October 12, 2008

Are Rumor Sites Spoiling the Surprise?

Apple has announced a MacBook Event for October 14. I am very excited to see what is unveiled. The web is flooded with rumors of what Apple will unleash, but I for one am not taking a peek. Instead, I will wait until Tuesday and be surprised.

Have rumor sites taken away the element of surprise and thus making new product announcements bland? Have these rumors added a new degree of anticipation or just spoiled it?

The last Apple event was Let's Rock on September 9 where the new iPod Nano was released. As exciting as that was, the rumors and leaked photos were right on the money. Knowing about any new technology before it is released is great, but did that make the Let's Rock event lackluster?

I kind of feel it did. As a known gadget head and lover of all things Apple, I anticipate every new product announcement. My production at work crawls to a halt as I feverishly click refresh on my browser, eagerly awaiting updates on Twitter from those fortunate enough to attend these special Apple events. I can say without a doubt after the Let's Rock event I suffered from rumor site regret, and I felt a little bit unfulfilled after the announcements from having known what would be unveiled.

I'm sure it is a personal choice. Some of us want to know if we can, and some of us like the element of surprise. I for one am taken the latter this time for the upcoming MacBook event to see if it changes my level of satisfaction when I find out what Apple presents to the world.

UPDATE: Poll Results 10/12/08 - 10/19/08

Have you suffered from rumor site regret?
50% Yes
50% No

How do you feel about new product announcements?
00% I like to know before
50% I like to be surprised
50% I don't care
Posted by Keri
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2 comments:

  1. Rumor sites can be a good or bad thing depending on your interest in whatever products are being analyzed and what your expectations are for the product.

    In some cases, they can be great because they can help you curb your purchases around what the next generation of products might bring for you. For example, I'm intending to build a pair of new PCs; as the result of some of the rumors and testing surrounding Intel's next chip release, I've decided that I'm going to wait until they are released to buy everything. An unintended side effect is that some of the other parts I'm intending to put in these PCs could possibly be cheaper. >.>

    Sometimes the rumor sites get it wrong; you might hear that a manufacturer is not intending to include said feature X according to blog Y, but when the formal announcement is made, that feature seems to have been made a reality after all. (Admittedly, this is happening less and less as people start to bring themselves back to Earth, but an optimist might look at this opportunity and realize that not everything manages to escape the confines of the R&D lab.)

    And remember that what sites you look at are your choice (either that, or you have some interesting malware installed that you might want to have looked at). Ultimately, the spoiling comes down to whether you actively eek these secrets or can avert your eyes on sites like Digg and Reddit (or avoid social aggregation sites altogether).
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  2. Rumor sites are just doing their job, like Nick said, you can either read it or not. But what gets me about the rumor sites and the leaks is that it effects stock prices. Everyone, more or less, knows what to expect going into a Apple event and then when it all comes true the investors are disappointed and the stock drops. That doesn't make any sense at all especially considering whatever product that was just announced is almost guaranteed to make Apple a ton of money (unless it's an iPod Hi-Fi).
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