iMac/eMac Rumor Wrapup: Winners and Losers

Apple released new iMacs and price dropped eMacs on Tuesday, Feb 4th, 2003. After each product release, MacRumors provides a wrapup of rumors to reveal the sources of the most accurate information.

Despite rumors of 19" iMacs last year -- Apple doesn't seem to agree. Beyond that, Spymac, MacOSRumors, and MacBidouille posted rumors in 2002 that the iMac would arrive at MacWorld San Francisco 2003. ThinkSecret put a stop to those rumors in the days before MWSF, and this information turned out to be accurate -- MWSF came and went without iMac upgrades.

Attention was drawn towards the PowerMac/Display upgrades in the subsequent weeks, with Thinksecret first suggesting Feb 3rd as a tentative week for iMac updates. Meanwhile MacRumors sources provided a solid date of Feb 4th, as well as definitive details of the high-end iMac upgrade (though midrange price point info was incorrect). Thinksecret then posted last minute price point of $1299 for the iMac, filling out the bottom end of the line, as well as details of eMac price drops.

MacNews.net.tc initially posted $999-$1699 specs which were echoed by Appleinsider immediately before the release. These specs were wrong, with no apparent basis, casting further doubts on these sources for future specs.

Summary

As mentioned before, accurate rumors are available... but with the influx of rumor sites, it's often difficult to discern accurate information from pure speculation.

It seems speculation and "predictions" are often passed off as rumors -- these practices should be discouraged and any purely speculative information is frowned upon (unless specifically stated as such), as it simply muddies the water and further incites unreasonable expectations amongst readers.

Some of this may be unavoidable, as frequently, sources of rumors may simply be based on unconfirmed reader contribution which has been known to miss their mark. smile

Related Roundup: iMac
Buyer's Guide: iMac (Neutral)
Related Forums: PowerPC Macs, iMac

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
iPhone 15 Pro FineWoven

Apple Reportedly Stops Production of FineWoven Accessories

Sunday April 21, 2024 6:03 am PDT by
Apple has stopped production of FineWoven accessories, according to the Apple leaker and prototype collector known as "Kosutami." In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Kosutami explained that Apple has stopped production of FineWoven accessories due to its poor durability. The company may move to another non-leather material for its premium accessories in the future. Kosutami has revealed...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iOS 17 All New Features Thumb

iOS 17.5 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Sunday April 21, 2024 3:00 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 17.5 update for the iPhone includes only a few new user-facing features, but hidden code changes reveal some additional possibilities. Below, we have recapped everything new in the iOS 17.5 and iPadOS 17.5 beta so far. Web Distribution Starting with the second beta of iOS 17.5, eligible developers are able to distribute their iOS apps to iPhone users located in the EU...
iPad And Calculator App Feature

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. The lack of ...
Provenance Emulator

PlayStation and SEGA Emulator for iPhone and Apple TV Coming to App Store [Updated]

Friday April 19, 2024 8:29 am PDT by
The lead developer of the multi-emulator app Provenance has told iMore that his team is working towards releasing the app on the App Store, but he did not provide a timeframe. Provenance is a frontend for many existing emulators, and it would allow iPhone and Apple TV users to emulate games released for a wide variety of classic game consoles, including the original PlayStation, SEGA Genesis,...