You can't trust rumors about Apple

In case you hadn't noticed, very few rumor stories appear here at Betanews. We purposely err on the side of factual reporting rather than spread gossip. There are plenty of sites doing that all to well. Today's Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and MacBook Air no-shows are examples why we cautiously write about rumors. Particularly when it comes to Apple. The rumors are often wrong.

But in this era of grubbing for pageviews, it's easy for bloggers and reporters (and their editors, if there are any) to justify publishing rumors, particularly about hot company Apple. Often, the mass of readers see only the headlines and assume the rumor to be fact. Look around and tell me a tech company for which there are more rumor stories circulating than Apple. The company's secretive character is major reason.

The web has been raft with rumors that Lion would release on July 14 since around US Independence day. MacBook Air coinciding with the Lion release, on the same day, July 14, came later. I didn't believe the rumors from the start. In the past, Apple has typically chosen Friday as day for big product launches, and Tuesday is another typical one. Thursday is unusual but not without precedent. Also, most recent rumors about Apple dates have been wrong -- in best case by a day or so.

Some rumor stories claimed that Apple Stores would prepare overnight April 13-14 for the big launch, which had an, ah, Air of credibility because of the laptop but not as much for Lion. Apple is releasing the software digitally. People won't be rushing to stores to buy it -- although the retail shops would likely update all display Macs to Lion.

Had we credible sources or found another site we trusted, Betanews might have posted a rumor story, too. I randomly grabbed some of the newer posts predicting July 14 Lion and MacBook Air release:

• "New MacBook Airs and Pros with Lion OS X launching July 14", Geek.com
• "Moles say Mac OS X Lion to bound in next week", The Register
• "Apple chatter: Lion, MacBook Air ship July 14", Computerworld
• "Mac OS X Lion launch: Apple stores preparing for July 14", Electricpig
• "OS X Lion launch likely next week, new MacBook Air to follow" TUAW (giving July 14th)
• "A Mid-Summer Trip To The Apple Rumor Mill", TechCrunch ("We're expecting July 14, but what do we know?")

I don't see many corrected reports out there. "Geez, Internet, sorry, we got it wrong". Geek.com has done one and deserves credit: "Mac OS X Lion release date is not today, the waiting continues".

Instead, some folks are expressing surprise the rumors were wrong. Time Techland: "No Apple Mac OS X Lion Today After All?" Matt Peckham writes:

As of today, July 14th, 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Apple's homepage is still pimping the company's iCloud service, announced last month but not publicly available until sometime this fall. OS X Lion is, by comparison, still just a footnote at page bottom, 'coming this July.' So I'm thinking 'not happening today', or that maybe Apple's planning a midnight launch to ease demand on its download servers...Or maybe it's just Apple's way of calling the media's bluff, because bluffing's as good as it gets when you're quoting anonymous sources and collating the latest Apple-related rumors and innuendo.

Over at MacObserver, James Gamet calls "July 14: The day Lion doesn't ship". That was a prediction made yesterday, and Gamet's story is one of few credible ones regarding the ship date. Since Lion is a digital download, Apple could still drop it today. But I don't expect it, and neither should you.

All my browbeating other sites aside, Betanews is in process of making improvements that could affect how news stories are presented and whether or not content like rumors get more placement. Other news sites and blogs post rumors because someone wants to read them. It's not all grubbing pageviews, but serving the readers. Do you want more rumor stories? I'm asking informally to gauge the tone of the Betanews audience. Please answer in comments, or email joe at betanews dot com.