How Trustworthy are Apple Rumors?
Someone sent me yet-another iPhone rumor for the June 17 launch of SDK3.0 and possibly a new hardware profile for the device. The meat-and-potatoes of this one is basically:
- OLED Screen resulting in 1.5x battery life
- FM transmitter
- Glowing logo & rubber tread on back
- Higher res camera
- Super mega-fast CPU
- Turn-by-turn directions
There are several reasons to doubt the veracity of this rumor. For starters, it wasn’t accompanied by any specific hardware specifiations: graphics processor, CPU, GPS chip, etc. Anyone close to the hardware team would know these things. Other rumors have been accompanied by specifics. Another reason is the cost implications of switching to an OLED screen. Although the same happened on laptop and desktop mac’s, sticking to a $299 price point might shave Apple’s margins considerably. Finally, an FM transmitter seems superflous. Apple has always been about delivering content through the iTunes software universe and has never really been that into letting users sidestep their proprietary networks and formats. FM radio is going to add cost to the device, and be of value to a limited number of people. It might potentially even cut into their iTunes revenues. Finally, the turn-by-turn directions would require significant upgrades to the Maps application on the phone, and there has been no sign of this in 5 beta releases of the 3.0 SDK. It’s possible they have it but haven’t released it but it seems like something they’d want to beta.
What’s interesting here though is the tendency for popular tech blogs to receive exclusive and anonymous “scoops” on product launch details before the rest of us. Scoops – I might point out – that nearly always turn out to be false. Take a look at some recent other generation 3 rumors for the new hardware being unveiled (supposedly) in June:
These tend to be non-conflicting, but some of these items seem farfetched. I mean, how can Apple be adding hardware features while simultaneously improving battery life (which seems to be an essential feature of any new device)? Time will tell.
