Anatomy of a rumor: The Atom-powered Newton iPhone
As Winston Churchill might have put it, an Apple rumor can fly halfway around the world before truth has a chance to get its boots on.
Case in point: the iPhone mini-tablet story that broke Wednesday afternoon in Germany.
It started with a bad computer an English translation of a sloppy dispatch in the German language version of ZDnet. Under the headline "iPhone kommt mit größerem Display und Intel Atom," ZDNet.de reported on a speech given by Intel Germany CEO Hannes Schwaderer in Munich. The key passage, as machine-translated, edited and re-broadcast by MacRumors:
As part of an Intel event for the 40th birthday of the semiconductor company at Munich’s BMW World, Germany managing director Hannes Schwaderer confirmed today what has long been a rumor on the Internet: namely, that there is an iPhone with Intel’s new Atom chip. The device is slightly larger than the current version, Schwaderer said. That is not, however, because of the Intel chip, but because of the larger display used in the new iPhone. (link)
MacRumors' Arnold Kim helpfully added that this correlated with "circulating rumors" that Apple was working on a mini-tablet (720×480) device.
That's all it took. By Thursday morning, there were 15 headlines on Techmeme echoing and amplifying the ZDNet report, among them:
- Valleywag: "Intel Atom to be used in new, larger iPhone"
- Gizmodo: "Intel Germany CEO Spills on Atom-Based Mini-Tablet iPhone"
- Engadget: "WWDC to launch a 3G iPhone and Atom-based MID device?"
AppleInsider ran a Photoshop rendition of a Newton-size iPhone and reminded readers that the device Intel Germany's CEO now "vouches" for was first reported by AppleInsider last September. (link) Seth Weintraub in Computerworld went so far in his tablet-iPhone speculation as to post a bar graph of benchmark tests comparing the Atom to predecessor chips. (link)
The only trouble with all of this is that it's not true, as Intel (INTC) PR took pains to point out in ZDNet's next-day quasi-retraction.
Intel specifically "disclaimed" the report that started it all. Intel Germany's CEO was only making general remarks about the kind of mobile devices the Atom might power in the future and did not mean to speculate about future Apple (AAPL) products. He mentioned the iPhone in this connection, according to Intel, only as an example of a small Internet device.
“Intel knows nothing over future products of other manufacturers and can therefore over it also nothing say,” press spokesman Mike Cato told ZDNet in a quote that probably sounded better in German than it does in Babel Fish translation. (link)
[UPDATE: MacRumors' Kim stands by his German-to-English translation (duly noted, and corrected above) and notes that ZDNet now points to second account of Schwaderer's speech from PCGamesHardware.de:
"PCGH-Editor Daniel Waadt was there as well an can attest, that Schwaderer referred to the iPhone as an example for the use of the atom-processor from Intel. The Intel CEO mentioned furthermore, that the display on iPhone 2 would be bigger than on iPhone 1 (although it is already quite big). iPhone 2 is also thinner than iPhone 1." (via MacRumors, translated "by Leo from Fscklog")
We leave it to the reader to determine if this confirms the existence of the mini-tablet iPhone.]
to iSmashiPhone,
You are wrong. The text "Using 3G loads data faster, but decreases battery life" is in the SDK. That screenshot is legit.
arn
bis du geisterkrank?! Soon AMD will crush Intel with it's even smaller and faster Photon processor.
Und du muesst schon wissen: es ist gleich ob eine Maschine order eine Deutsch uebersetzt…ihr beide sind Hertzlos.
Danke XamaX dast du hast uns eine neue Bibel gescrieben.
You fools!
So Intel does not know about its partner's products? So Intel does not develop Apple's motherboards? So Intel and Apple are not in bed together partnering to create the new handheld computing revolution?!
Intel is bound by NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) and they must have taken a lot of heat from Apple to ruin with this moronic comments Apple's hype building strategy.
Apple wants to fool you people that the iPhone 3G is the next big thing so that you all get your socks knocked off when Steve says "One More Thing – here's the iTablet to go with the 10,000 apps we present today".
It is really important that he does that in order to crap out all the "sell on the news" bail outers and not make the AAPL stock plunge big time like in past occasions.
It is also important in order to keep that unstoppable momentum up that will generate a tsunami with no breathing time:
- 3G announcement prior to WWDC in May
- iTablet+10,000 apps WWDC announcement in June
- China Apple Store and China iPhone deals in August
- Back to School momentum in September til MacWorld
- Lots of international news from carrier deals "iPhone launch days" etc. in between all those events
With this, a global wave will be created and Steve will grow his company to Apple x2 in no time given its newly conquests into global market via the Viral Marketing weapon called iPhone/iTouch that will generate enormous Mac sales where little if any existed.
The iPhone / iTablet is the new handheld computing platform. Why do you think Oppenheimer and Co whispered such notion for whom wanted to listen? Because they're all set to free that beast. Furthermore, Jobs had already confessed they had a Tablet ready but opted to not launch it at the time.
I wouldn't be surprised if the iTablet product was developed prior to the iPhone but Apple saw the latter potential as a viral marketing weapon and decided to go for it. The new iTablet will be a always on device through its 3G/Wi-Fi connectivity too.
So, Intel PR – not the Intel-DE Ceo – had to come out to say this!
"…rumor can fly halfway around the world before truth has a chance to get its boots on…"
actually believe that was Samuel Clemens a.k.a. Mark Twain.
ex ped: Interesting. I've seen it attributed to both, but more often to Churchill than to Clemens. It's not in my Bartlett's. Anybody got the definitive word on this?
Do you recall 3g phone info found in SDK post. Someone created a mock-up picture of the screen and that screen was shown as a proof of 3g phone all over Internet.
Bloggers want to be treated as journalist but do not want to abide by rules of journalism.
As mentioned above, the translation is correct. ZDNet's original report is exactly as quoted. If Schwaderer was misquoted, it was by ZDnet.
arn
Sorry to disappoint you but the original german text (http://www.zdnet.de/news/hardware/0,39023109,39190850,00.htm) really says that there will be an iphone with the Atom-Chip: "Im Rahmen eines Intel-Events zum 40. Geburtstag der Halbleiterfirma in der Münchner BMW-Welt hat Deutschland-Geschäftsführer Hannes Schwaderer heute bestätigt, was schon seit einiger Zeit als Gerücht im Internet kursierte: nämlich, dass es ein iPhone mit Intels neuem Atom-Chip geben wird."
This article was corrected on the 15th may by an official report by intel.
On the other hand there is another update in the zdnet article linking to "PC Games Hardware" (http://www.pcgameshardware.de/aid,643741/News/Iphone_2_mit_Intel-Atom-Chip-_oder_doch_nicht/). They are saying that they also had a reporter at the press conference in munich. And he confirms that Schwaderer named the iphone as one field of application for the Atom.
greetz from Mannheim, Germany
ex ped: We now agree that the translation is accurate. What's not so clear is what Schwaderer actually said and what it means. Intel's version — that Schwaderer was using an iPhone with a larger screen as an example of the kind of device in which Atom might find a home — seems more credible than the interpretation ZDNet put on it: that Intel Germany's CEO a) could speak definitively Apple's product plans and b) that he would do so in front of reporters at a birthday bash at BMW World.
“Intel knows nothing over future products of other manufacturers and can therefore over it also nothing say."
Huh? Tell me that you're not creating news based upon that gibberish.
Does nobody know somebody who can speak both German and English? I don't understand how a ZDNet article got into print with a Google translation in it, especially on a topic as controversial as this. The original reporter should have his head examined!
Pathetic journalism.
All you clowns feed off one another like a virus. Like paporazzis looking for a fresh death.
yet passed off as news.
YOu all look like a bunch off idiots
Let's see how long this post stays up.
“Intel knows nothing over future products of other manufacturers and can therefore over it also nothing say,”
you might want to have humans either update their weird sounding quotes as well, or get a better machine…
u like twain it seems, and that last line reminds of his view of the German language, oder?
Instead of “insider speculation”, check here http://dailyfits.com/2009/07/13/apple-netbook-rumor-gaining-legs/ for comprehensive details about the new device including some basic specs (screen size)… also I think that the artist redition included more accurately captures what this device will look like…