"Modern intelligence won't accept anything on authority, but it will accept anything without authority" - Horne Fisher, The Man Who Knew Too Much

I'm not fond of rumours especially as they have been handled in the world of gadgets where shaky camera photos and passed-on gossip has taken on the same lewd nature as the tabloids and celebrity gossip magazines. What's the difference between a blurry cameraphone pic secretly taken of the next, supposed BlackBerry and a telephoto lens shot of Angelina Jolie's potential baby bump? Isn't the one just the male version of the other? How can you roll your eyes at your sister, wife, or girlfriend when she reaches for one of those cheesy tabloid papers and then hit the web to look over the latest phony mock-ups with the same sense of relish? Celebrity gossip is designed to tear down the worship of that culture, perhaps in gadgets its the same for the worship of brands like Apple, Microsoft, or Google, but as someone who loves technology, I dislike a destructive focus when the point is to celebrate innovation and change. 

There's a great sense of wonder when a new innovative gadget is unveiled against a backdrop of celebration and baited anticipation that, sadly gets sucked dry with every "leak". When a leak does spoil the news the following E3 Expo, MacWorld, or CES show becomes a depressing disappointment and our culture and industry take a hit as a result. Why would anyone want to destory that? I'm one of the worshippers, I guess. 

Professionally I find rumours wholly unreliable. It's often a weapon seized upon by those who feel jilted because they were not invited to a press conference, couldn't get a review unit, or felt rejected for a number of reasons. Some companies even take advantage of the online frenzy by planting their own rumours, using journalists and the reputations of their outlets to wage market wars with their competitors. Most readers never see the behind-the-scenes movements of these actions, but it's nasty, petty business. I'm often asked to weigh in on the ones that have the most buzz which takes up time I should be spending on something real. 

Like the quote from G. K. Chersterton's novel at the beginning of this post captures, it ultimately contributes toward a growing culture of fallacy and irrational thinking, where if something is repeated often enough it must be true and if something gets enough attention it must be important and well-meaning journalists get sucked into the habit of merely repeating information overheard instead of investigating it from a direct source.

Today there is a rumour that brings this whole gossip culture to a boil and it will be impossible for anyone to avoid. The two leading tech gossip blogs, Engadget and Gizmodo have both gotten their hands on pics and video of a phone that appears to be a stolen prototype of Apple's next iPhone design, expected to be launched this summer. 

It is the most convincing of all the rumours that mill has produced, and sadly will be become the one to convince many of all the other rumours that are not.

The "story" behind the device is that an Apple employee accidentally left it in a bar in Redwood City. Instead of trying to get it back to its owner, the person who found it chose to play with it and send photos to both tech blogs. Of the two Gizmodo has gotten their hands on the device and have taken it apart and shot it from all angles for their coverage and say that they have heard that the Apple employee has reported the device stolen and wants it back.

You can view their report here. 

Keep in mind that, while the images and videos featured are very convincing, Apple and similar companies often produce a number of variant prototypes, just as you do when you create anything, and this may be misleading in terms of showing what's Apple's next device may look like.

There are ethical questions here. As soon as the person who found it decided to keep it in order to reveal it online, they crossed the line and should be considered as having stolen the device. It's been taken apart and examined thoroughly, so property damage is certainly involved. By publishing, possibly paying for, and participating with the reveal of this prototype Gizmodo has ignored some serious journalistic and ethical issues.

Compare the situation to a similar one in the movie industry. In 1998 Aintitcool.com's Harry Knowles received a copy of the Toy Story 2 script from an anonymous source. He read it, wrote about his impressions, but didn't publish it or distribute it. Steve Jobs (who owned Pixar at the time) called him up to ask him if it was true. When Harry said it was, he told him to "burn it" and Harry replied "done". Knowles got his traffic and attention, but didn't give away the script. Gizmodo gets their hands on an iPhone prototype and they dismantle it. and publish photos and videos from every angle. 

How will this impact the release of the next iPhone? If this is real will Apple be forced to delay its release? Will they be forced to make changes? As much fun as it is to view leaked photos early, I don't like the delays we have to wait for in order to get the real thing.

In either case I will be asked about this rumour every day this week and so here I have a prepared article I just point people towards.

The rumoured prototype pictures look authentic and point to a new iPhone with a higher resolution screen, better battery, and front-facing camera for chatting, all things any Apple fan could have guessed.