Lance Ulanoff


Apple review, Apple commentary, Apple news... Everything AppleI know Apple has public relations and marketing departments. I've talked to them on the phone and met them in person. Still, I sometimes wonder if these people are temps or actors, hired only when Apple deems it necessary to talk to the media. I think this because when it comes to getting the word out, Apple has as much in common with PR-happy Microsoft as the common housefly does with a computer.

Sure, both companies make tech products for the mass market, but their approaches couldn't be more different. I'm in constant contact with Microsofties—I'm very happy to say—and I often know about new products and technologies long before they hit the market.

Apple, on the other hand, steadily beats a silent drum. No marketing or PR information, teasing the media or consumers about new products, comes directly from Apple. Yet, the excitement leading up to these surprise unveilings is as big, strong and inyourface as if Apple were beating a massive drum.

Product announcements typically occur only at key Mac-based shows, and there is little to no warning—from Apple—about what they'll be about. But that very lack of information creates a vacuum so strong that it steadily sucks in new faux information.

And Apple's remarkable silent drum beats on.

The closer we get to a show like Macworld (we just had one last week), the faster the rumors fly. Bloggers, podcasts, video podcasts, and pundits like myself all bloviate and pontificate on rumors and sometimes spill seemingly secret info. There's no way of telling if any of this information is on the mark.

Yet Apple's silent drum beats mercilessly in the background. And the rumors simply get bigger and more fantastic with each passing day.

In the run-up to Macworld, I witnessed the mother, perhaps, of all Apple rumors. Everyone expected an iPhone to make its first public appearance, but no one knew for certain what it would look like, its key features, or even its carriers. That, of course, did not stop the wild speculations (my favorite was two batteries, one for the phone and the other for the MP3 player). One of the better moments was when we all learned that Apple didn't even own the iPhone name (Cisco, parent company of Linksys, does and is now suing Apple). Apple never said it did or didn't. The company just let people guess. It was getting so crazy that the actual Apple iPhone announcement was a near equal mix of relief and interest. But the mother of all rumors had nothing to do with the iPhone. Instead, some nutty analyst started a crazy, half-baked rumor that Apple might introduce its own gaming console system.—next: An Apple Console? >