WWDC Rumor Wrapup: Winners and Losers

After each major event, MacRumors provides a wrapup of rumors to reveal the sources of the most accurate and inaccurate information. Readers are encouraged to read our previous roundup and final thoughts to decide for themselves. (Note: Roundup information is filtered, influenced and presented in an attempt to accurately predict outcomes.)



The World Wide Developers Conference keynote was perhaps the most highly anticipated event in recent Mac history.

After months of rumors and speculation of PowerMac/970 updates -- Apple, themselves, accidentally leaked the specs for the PowerMac G5 four days early. This only raised excitement and expectations to unhealthy levels.

Apple Legal also played a more participatory role in the pre-game in this round with multiple interventions at many of the sites involved.

PowerMacs

MacBidouille deserves credit for being the first (by far) and -- for some time -- the only site to claim that Apple would announce PPC 970 based PowerMacs at the World Wide Developer's Conference.

Their first claim (in March) was that IBM would be presenting the 970 Chip and demoing a 970-based PowerMac at WWDC.

Subsequent rumors, however, were ambitious with claims that low-end (1.4 GHz) 970-based PowerMacs were rolling off assembly lines in May 2003, and implied immediate availability of the 970-based PowerMacs at WWDC. This information turned out to be incorrect. MacWhispers also claimed tha PowerMac's based on 970 chips were currently in production along with an inaccurate description of the case design.

Our own sources had indicated that PowerMacs would not be a a shipping state by WWDC with final notes confirming this information as well as accurate reports of increased price points for towers.

Motherboard claims from MacBidouille were mostly true -- with claims of DDR 400, USB 2.0, AGP 8x, and Hypertransport. Claims of FibreChannel built-in, however, were not.

Traditionally accurate CNet provided confirmation of the use of Hypertransport, with AppleInsider returning from the grave with a PowerMac G5 report that triggered Apple Legal. Most of the details of the AppleInsider report turned out to be correct (ports, hypertransport, motherboard, G5 name) with the exception of starting processor speeds which were claimed to be 1.4-1.8GHz.

Appleinsider also provided an accurate description of the new PowerMac case, as well as corroboration for ThinkSecret reports of an Apple Video Camera which turned out to be iSight. If their other information can be considered accurate, then we may also expect adjustable displays (first mentioned by Looprumors), and Filemaker returning in-house.

Panther

Surprisingly little information emerged regarding Panther was available prior to WWDC.

Accurate tidbits: Multiple User Login (MacOSRumors)

Inaccurate tidbits: New File System (MacBidouille), Piles (MacEdition), Music/Movie Purchase Integration (MacOSRumors).


Mixed tidbits:

    eWeek: Multiple Graphical (Yes), Piles (No), New File System (No)

    LoopRumors: Themes (No), User Switching (Yes), More Dock Features (No), iChat 2.0 (Yes), Speed (Yes), Mail 2.0 (No), More Metal (Yes), Flatter Aqua (Yes), Improved Dock (No), Quicktime 6.5 (No), iWorks (No), Safari 1.0 (Yes), Advanced Mouse Support (No), Advanced Software Update (No), 64-Bit Support (Yes).

The most accurate overview came from leaked screenshots (on 4OSX.com) in the 2 days prior to the event.

PowerBooks

MacWhispers cited manufacturing sources and reported that 970 Based PowerBooks had started production claiming "we can say that both the new PPC 970 Power Mac and Powerbook will have substantial inventory already produced by the time of the upcoming WWDC keynote."


With Apple's Vice President of Hardware Product Marketing stating that the G5 "is not going in a PowerBook anytime soon," it appears MacWhispers' reports were incorrect.

Summary

With more and more eyes on Apple and the Mac rumor scene, the number of rumor sites and rumor sources have exploded -- with an increasing noise-to-signal ratio. Despite this, real information is available to the community -- but the challenge that remains is to find the accurate information from the disinformation.

MacBidouille deserves credit for providing the lead info on such an important Apple event, however, based on the above record, they remain consistently inconsistent in their accuracy -- which has also been true of them in the past.

Long time rumor-site, AppleInsider, has re-emerged with accurate information, and appears to be poised to regain its previous status in the Mac Rumor community.

MacWhispers, however, has been consistently wrong with inaccurate claims including LCD Specs, iPod Release Date & Powerbook Release, No New iPod Case, and most recently the PowerBook 970s at WWDC. As a result, any future rumors should be met entirely with skepticism.

ThinkSecret was conspicuously absent from much of the 970 rumors, but retains its traditionally accurate record -- and the notable distinction of bringing down the wrath of Apple Legal a number of times over the past few months.

Next Apple event is MacWorld Creative Pro on July 16-18...

Addendum: Note, one eWeek.com report was inadvertantly omitted from this wrap up -- and they proved (again) to have accurate information with their Smeagol, 64-Bit article.

Popular Stories

2007 iPhone

Apple Discontinuing This 18-Year-Old iPhone Feature

Saturday February 8, 2025 3:51 pm PST by
The end of an 18-year era is on the horizon for the iPhone. Apple reportedly plans to announce a new iPhone SE as soon as next week, and the device is expected to feature a full-screen design with Face ID, instead of a Touch ID home button. That means Apple will no longer sell any new iPhone models with a home button, for the first time since the original iPhone launched. The home button...
oppo find n5 fingers

World's Thinnest Foldable Phone Launches Next Week

Monday February 10, 2025 3:05 am PST by
Oppo has confirmed a February 20 global launch for its Find N5, which the company claims is the world's thinnest device in the foldable phone category. The phone is expected to be re-branded as the OnePlus Open 2 in the US. The Chinese vendor has been teasing the device in the last few weeks, touting its waterproofing and nearly invisible display crease, and highlighting its thinness by compa...
m2 macbook air blue

M4 MacBook Air Release Continues to Appear Imminent

Monday February 10, 2025 10:56 am PST by
There continue to be signs of a new MacBook Air with an M4 chip, indicating that we could see the machine launch in the not too distant future. A private account on X today shared the identifiers that the MacBook Air will use, and those identifiers correspond to the M4 chip. According to the source, both the 13-inch MacBook Air and the 15-inch MacBook Air will be equipped with Apple's...
sequoia

Apple Releases macOS Sequoia 15.3.1

Monday February 10, 2025 10:11 am PST by
Apple today released macOS Sequoia 15.3.1, a minor update to the macOS Sequoia operating system that came out last September. macOS 15.3.1 comes a few weeks after the launch of macOS Sequoia 15.3. Mac users can download the ‌‌‌macOS Sequoia‌‌‌ update through the Software Update section of System Settings. Apple has also released macOS 13.7.4 and macOS 14.7.4 for those who are...
watchOS 11 Thumb 2 1

Apple Releases watchOS 11.3.1

Monday February 10, 2025 10:04 am PST by
Apple today released watchOS 11.3.1, a minor update to the operating system that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 11.3.1 is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 6 and later, all Apple Watch Ultra models, and the Apple Watch SE 2. watchOS 11.3.1 can be downloaded by opening up the Apple Watch app and going to General > Software Update. To install the new software, the Apple Watch needs to...
apple silicon mac lineup 2024 feature purple

Apple Increases Mac Trade-In Values for a Limited Time

Sunday February 9, 2025 3:53 pm PST by
Apple today increased its estimated trade-in values for select Mac models in the United States, with the full changes outlined below. Apple says the extra trade-in credit for select Macs is available with the purchase of an eligible new Apple device through April 2. The trade-in values increased by between $10 and $50. Model New Value Old Value MacBook Pro Up to $925 ...
Powerbeats Pro 2 Orange

Powerbeats Pro 2 Given to Customer Early, Expected to Debut Tomorrow

Monday February 10, 2025 7:42 am PST by
Apple's long-awaited Powerbeats Pro 2 are finally expected to be announced this Tuesday. Ahead of time, one lucky Walmart customer was able to get their hands on the earbuds early, according to a since-deleted Reddit post over the weekend. A leaked image of the Powerbeats Pro 2 in Electric Orange "My local Walmart had them in the cage," the Reddit user explained. "I asked if I can buy them...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.3.1 With Bug Fixes

Monday February 10, 2025 10:09 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 18.3.1 and iPadOS 18.3.1, minor updates for the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that came out last September. iOS 18.3.1 comes two weeks after Apple released iOS 18.3. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Apple has also released iPadOS 17.7.5 for those still running...