Friday, January 07, 2005

It is widely acknowledged that Apple Computer enjoys the kind of slavish devotion among its customers--and fawning adoration from the press--of which other companies don't even dare to dream. That is, it's acknowledged by everyone but Apple.

The company earlier this week filed a lawsuit--and not its first--against a Web site ... for publishing details of an Apple product that the Web site says will be announced by the company at next week's MacWorld conference in San Francisco.

Make no mistake, there's a good chance that the source of [the] story about plans for a $500 Mac and new business software did break whatever legal agreement not to divulge the information that they had agreed to with Apple. And, one must assume it is at least partly true, or Apple wouldn't bother suing.

But, this sort of stuff happens all the time in the tech industry. Sources leak details of forthcoming products to reporters whose motivation is to get credit for an exclusive story. Here's the difference with Apple: most of its secret product news is not published first by national, mainstream media, but by Apple advocates. These people are customers, fans and Apple-lovers.

This community gives Apple untold free--and mostly positive--publicity and buzz about upcoming products and strategies. They salivate over every upgrade.