What Makes The New iPhone Rumor Funnier Than All Others?
All year long we get totally unsubstantiated, probably untrue Apple rumors, yet today's rumor has the techies particularly appalled. The tidbit about the not-yet announced iPhone comes to us from Reuters: "Apple Inc's new iPhone will have a sharper and bigger 4.6-inch 'retina' display and is set to be launched around the second quarter, a South Korean media reported on Thursday," begins the write-up. That's a full 1.1 inches bigger than the iPhone's current screen size. We've seen bigger screen rumors before. Yet, for some reason, tech watchers are laughing at this.
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Like, actual belly laughs from Gizmodo's Apple aficionado Jesus Diaz, who tweeted the following in Reuters' face:
Hahahahaha, oh Reuters, 4.6-inch iPhone! HAHAHAHAHA!Clowns.
— Jesus Diaz (@jesusdiaz) March 22, 2012
And others joined on Twitter, noting the implausability of the rumor with fewer laughs, but as much fervor as Diaz. Apple hasn't changed its iPhone screen since its inception, it would ruin the pixel density, it would affect everything on the user interface, it's just too big -- these are some of the most compelling arguments for the absurdity of the rumor. But the real reason the rumor has the some folks all worked up comes from Reuters' own social media guru, Anthony De Rosa:
@samfbiddle @benjaminjackson @angeljimenez no disrespect taken, I'm surprised we ran with it myself
— Anthony De Rosa (@AntDeRosa) March 22, 2012
This report came from a trusted news source and not the usual rumor monger sites. This really riled the tech pundit crowd. Tech columnist Michael Gartenberg spewed the following threatening words on Twitter. "Any article that cites either "unnamed sources" "sources familiar with the matter" or "digitimes" is cause for unsubscribe," he wrote. And The Loop's Jim Darymple had even less flattering things to say about the whole thing:" I was thinking: I should just make up some shit, mention Apple and post the story…But I'm not a major news org."
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When a site known for making things up posts some outrageous spec, the Internet eyes it with cautious salivation. When Reuters does it, the Internet isn't as amused. This iPhone rumor business is a funny thing -- sometimes, anyway.
